Who is a cdm co ordinator

However, a domestic client's burden is reduced as the Regulationsautomatically pass the client's duties to other parties. The definition of ''Client'' under the Regulations is extremely wide, being "any person for whom a project is carried out". The Regulations go on to state several ''Client duties''. One such duty is for the Client to ensure that where there is more than one contractor which for the purposes of the Regulations includes sub-contractors involved in a project, or it is reasonably foreseeable that there will be more than one involved, a Principal Designer must be appointed in writing.

The Regulations state that the Client should appoint a "designer with control over the pre-construction phase as Principal Designer". The definition of ''designer'' includes any person who prepares or modifies a design, or arranges for or instructs any person under their control to do so.

The Health and Safety Executive's draft guidance on the Regulations published on 9 January , provides that the appointed Principal Designer must have the technical knowledge of the construction industry relevant to the project and the skills, knowledge and experience to understand, manage and coordinate the pre-construction phase, including any design work carried out after construction begins. For the wide majority of projects, it is likely that the lead architect or any design and build contractor will comply with these requirements.

However, this should be considered on a case by case basis. The Regulations state that the appointment of the Principal Designer must be made as soon as practicable and always prior to the construction phase. In the event that a Client does not appoint a Principal Designer, the Client will be presumed to have stepped into the role themselves and must fulfil the relevant duties under the Regulations.

Failure to do so may result in civil or criminal sanctions. This article was jointly written by our Partner Stephen Homer. To allow our website to function correctly, we use strictly necessary cookies.

To help us continue to improve our website, we set optional cookies. For more information read our cookie policy. We use necessary cookies to make our site work. Key to all of this is the fact that the principal designer should be appointed as early as possible in the design process, ideally at concept stage. This will help to allow them to pull together the pre-construction information, such as asbestos surveys, existing health and safety files and structural drawings.

What has changed with the role? The new role of principal designer takes on many of the duties of the CDM coordinator. The principal designer must plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the pre-construction phase of a project. It is important to mention that a common misconception is that the principal designer needs to be the lead designer on the project.

The CDM co-ordinator must have, or have ready access to detailed knowledge of aspects of accident prevention relevant to the project to enable a judgement to be made.

In certain circumstances it may be acceptable to maintain a carefully scrutinised approved list of designers and contractors who have a demonstrably fine record in accident prevention and the avoidance of occupational ill-health. Where such a situation exists, any particularly low item in the priced bill of quantities could be investigated to ensure that an omission has not occurred which could compromise the standards of safety and health provisions.

Where a designer or contractor fails to perform to a satisfactory standard, the company should be removed from the approved list. The CDM co-ordinator must assist the client with ensuring that suitable management arrangements are made for the project.

This may include the performance of design audits and construction site audits and inspections. The client will almost certainly require assistance in the development of project health and safety goals and the determination of realistic programmes. The client has a duty to supply this information. The CDM co-ordinator will assist the client with identifying what is required and collection of that information. The CDM co-ordinator will also ensure that the pre-construction information is in a convenient form and provide the relevant parts to designers, the principal contractor and other contractors.

The CDM co-ordinator is required to advise the client on whether sufficient time is allowed for the design, tendering, tender review, mobilisation and construction. The designer has a qualified duty to ensure that the design of the structure does not give rise to unnecessary risks to persons' safety and health in construction, repair and maintenance so far as is reasonably practicable.

The CDM co-ordinator is required to consider the design to ensure that those overall requirements are met, ensuring that the design complies with the requirements of the regulations, including any designs undertaken by designers who are not based within Great Britain.

This obligation on the CDM co-ordinator is going to require considerable knowledge of the proposed construction methods as well as sound understanding of the type of maintenance and repair likely to be carried out. The CDM co-ordinator has a role to play in ensuring that different elements of the design prepared by various members of the design team do not interface to create risks to those working on the structure. The adequacy of the liaison and co-operation between the designers and the principal contractor is also an area where the CDM co-ordinator should exert influence.

The CDM co-ordinator is required to assist the client with the client's duties to verify the sufficiency of the construction phase plan to commence construction and the adequacy of the welfare provisions proposed by the principal contractor. This is likely to involve the CDM co-ordinator in the performance of a full review of the construction phase plan and reporting on its sufficiency to the client.