The Construction Design

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The Construction Design Management Regulations
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Fatalities in the Construction Industry
The construction industry is one of the most
dangerous from 1981 to 1994 there was a fatality
count of an average of 136 per year.
The idea of the CDM regulations is to reduce the
number of fatalities by forcing awareness of the
safety issues of construction from the design
stage to the continued maintenance of the
building in its post construction phase.
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Origins of The CDM Regulations
The impetus for the regulations originates from
two sources, the Government had decided to
legislate following a report by the HS executive
in Blackspot Construction, EU policy was
however being developed parallel with the report.
The EU published the proposals for the
Construction ( Design Management) Regulations
in 1992 and the regulations were laid before
Parliament in 1995 All members of the
construction team are subject to the regulations,
they do not set standards and are not
prescriptive, emphasise is placed on identifying
hazards and the assessment of risk so as to
eliminate or lessen perceived risks. They are
intended to improve health and safety from
inception to completion. The estimated cost to
the industry of implementing the regulations is
in the region of 550 million, the gross of the
industry is 37,000 million for 1991. The
estimated cost to designers is 290 million per
year, the brunt of the regulations is therefore
born by designers.
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Framework of Health safety Law The CDM
regulations are but a small part of a much larger
legal framework. They do not change the existing
law concerning health safety but are an
addition to it. Common Law- The importance of
common law has diminished with increasing
statutes, but it still co-exists with these
statutes. Reasonable Practice- Edwards v National
Coalboard If the risk is insignificant in
relation to the sacrifice it is not unreasonable
practice to control a hazard. The Factories act
1961- Introduces safety supervisors, lifting
operation regulations, work place regulations and
health welfare regulations Health Safety at
Work Act 1974- This established the health
Safety Commission and gave it power to produce
regulations and approve codes of practice, it
also set up the health Safety Executive who
have responsibility for enforcing Health Safety
laws- The radical difference of the 1974 act was
to place the emphasise on individuals rather than
premises.
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European Legislation Article 118A introduced
into the Treaty of Rome, obliges member states to
pay particular attention to encouraging
improvements in work environments concerned with
the health safety of workers. The directives
adopted under article 118A are termed the six pack
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The Principal Features of the CDM Regulations
The regulations bring health and safety
management as an obligation to the planning and
design of construction work-- to all but the
smallest projects. The responsibility for health
safety is spread throughout the design and
construction team. The Client The client has an
obligation to appoint a planning supervisor and
principal contractor and must be satisfied that
they are competent and that they will allocate
sufficient resources including time to the
project. Where a designer is appointed the
client must also be satisfied of his competence
and allocation of resources including time. The
client may appoint an agent to act as client but
must notify the executive.
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The Planning Supervisor his Responsibilities
The introduction of a Planning Supervisor is one
of the most significant additions of the
regulations. His appointment is required on all
projects other than those exempt from the
regulations. The planning supervisor is
responsible for- Ensuring a health safety plan
is prepared Monitoring the health and safety
aspects of the design Giving advice to the
client and contractor such that a health and
safety file can be prepared in respect of the
project.
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The Designers Responsibilities
To make the client aware of his duties under the
regulations To ensure the design avoids
unnecessary risks, or reduces them in regards to
Health safety so that the project can be
constructed and maintained safely.
The Principle Contractors Responsibilities
To take over and develop the health and safety
plan, To co-ordinate the activities of the
other contractors To provide the relevant
information, training and consultations with
employees including self employees
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Other Contractors responsibilities
To co-operate with the principal
contractor Comply with directives from the
principal contractor To provide the principal
contractor with details on the management and
prevention of Health and Safety risks created by
the contractors work on site To contribute to
the management of Health Safety on site by the
provision of information to the principal
contractor and employees.
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The Approved Code of Practice
The ACOP, approved by the Health and Safety
Commission provides practical guidance on
compliance with the regulations. Failure to
comply is not in itself an offence although such
failure may be taken by a court in criminal
proceedings as proof that a person has
contravened the regulations. The ACOP is the
practical workhorse of the regulations giving
guidance on how to comply with the regulations.
Graph
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The CDM regulations briefing, appointments
procedures the client's' decision to proceed
with the project, the client's appointment of a
'competent designer' i.e. the architect, the
designers' briefing of the 'client' on CDM
requirements, the client's mandatory
appointment of a competent planning
supervisor', the planning supervisor's mandatory
notification of the Health Safety Executive of
his or her appointment, the designer's'
assessment of any risks to persons carrying out
the work (or likely to be affected by the work)
in site activities, construction, commissioning,
maintenance, cleaning and repair of the
building, the planning supervisor's 'ensuring of
preparation of the pre-tender Health Safety
Plan the inclusion of the pre-tender Health
Safety Plan in the tender documents, the checking
of the health and safety competence and
experience of tendering contractors, the
tenderers consideration of the pre-tender Health
Safety Plan in their preparation of tenders and
the post-tender Health Safety Plan, the
consideration of the tenders and the post-tender
Health Safety Plans, the 'client's' appointment
of the principal contractor' who becomes
responsible for all site safety matters and for
the modification of the post tender Health and
Safety file as necessary. The principal
contractors assembly of material for the health
and safety file the 'client's appointment of any
others who may be requested to co-operate on
health and safety matters, the Planning
supervisor's 'ensuring of the completion of the
Health Safety file and its hand over to the
'client' on completion, the 'client's retention
of the Health Safety File for reference and
and Purchasers the 'clients
up-dating of the Health Safety File as
necessary in event of future work during
existence of building
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The Health Safety Plan
A co-ordinated approach to the Health Safety
management of the construction project relies
upon communication between the participants.
The Health and Safety plan binds the
participants together to improve the exchange and
communication of matters affecting Health and
Safety. The Health and Safety Plan is prepared
during the pre-construction stage on information
obtained from the client and designers and where
appropriate the planning supervisor- Before
construction can begin the Health and Safety Plan
must be developed by the principal contractor,
this is done by including details on the
management and prevention of health and safety
risks created by contractors and subcontractors.
The Health and Safety Plan is intended to be a
dynamic document subject to continuous review and
amendment fulfilling its role as a co-ordination
mechanism as construction progresses
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The health and safety plan (checklist) 1.Name
and address of the client. 2.Name and address of
the planning supervisor. 3.Name and address of
the designer(s). 4.Statement of the client's
health and safety policy. 5. Description of
the works and identification of specific
structures. Programme 6.Project completion date
or period of time during which the site for
the works is available. 7.Identification of
phases or sections and respective interim
completion dates. Existing off-site
conditions 8.Land use adjacent to the site with
particular regard to dangerous buildings,
industrial processes and the release of noxious
substances. 9.The potential for contaminated
groundwater flow from adjacent land. 10.The
potential for ground instability arising from
movement on adjacent land. 11.Transitory hazards
including the transportation of liquid petroleum
gas, radioactive materials and ammunition. 12.Traf
fic systems and restrictions including waiting
and delivery times. Existing on-site
considerations 13.Existing services including
gas, electricity and water. 14.Traffic systems
on, under or over the site. 15. Traffic
restrictions affecting waiting and delivery
times. 16.Site investigation data and ground
conditions identifying potential instability
from old and current mineworkings, underground
obstructions, past industrial chemical
contamination, release of methane and other gases
and risk of spontaneous combustion.
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17.Existing structures (as defined in the
Regulations) to be described together with the
particular risks which might arise from
demolition or refurbishment. This information
should include, but is not limited
to (a)Identifying noxious substances or
materials, e.g. asbestos, fuels etc. (b)Pre and
post tensioned members. (c)Load bearing limits
and other reasons for potential
instability. Existing records 18.Available
drawings of structures to be demolished,
refurbished or incorporated in the new work
s. 19.Health and safety file, if available, for
any structures on the site. 20.Site investigation
reports. 21.Historical maps and records with
particular regard to mining, flooding and
weather. The design 22.Principles and assumptions
of design for structures comprised in the
construction work identifying, in particular,
states of instability. Further information might
include the identification of any precautions
that are needed or any method or sequence of
assembly that should be followed during
construction. 23.Detailed reference to specific
risks where contractors will be required to
explain and present their proposals for
minimising or avoiding such risks. 24.Hazards or
work sequences identified as being of particular
risk to the health and safety of construction
workers and which cannot be eliminated. Constructi
on materials
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25.Health hazards from construction materials
specified in the contract documentation (having
been selected because there is no suitable
alternative). If possible, the construction
materials should be identified with particular
structures or phases of the work. Site layout and
management 26.Positions of site access and
egress.27.Location of storage areas and unloading
arrangements. 28.Location of temporary site
accommodation. 29.Layout or positions of welfare
facilities. 30.On-site traffic and pedestrian
routes including zoning where different
considerations for health and safety might
apply. Relationship with the client's
undertaking 31.Identification and consideration
of the health and safety issues which arise when
the project is located in premises occupied or
partially occupied by the client. Site
rules 32.Security requirements, if
any. 33.Specific site rules with which the client
or planning supervisor requires compliance, 34.
Specific site rules which are required by other
statutory provisions. Procedures for the
continuing review of the health and safety
plan. 35.Procedures for considering the health
and safety implications of elements designed by
the principal contractor and/or other
contractors. 36.Procedures for dealing with
unforeseen eventualities and conditions during
the construction phase resulting in substantial
design change which might affect resources.
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The Health and Safety File
On the completion of a construction project the
planning supervisor is required to ensure that a
Health and Safety File is prepared and handed
over to the client. The health and Safety File
is an important record document and should be
easily available to others responsible for later
construction work associated with the structure
or its maintenance, repair, renovation or
demolition. Regulation 14(d) refers to the
information which should be included in the
health and safety file, the first part of which
provides (i)information included with the design
by virtue of regulation 13(2)(b)... Reference to
regulation 13(2)(b) reveals that the information
should include... adequate information about any
aspect of the project or structure or materials
(including articles or substances) which might
affect the health and safety of any person at
work carrying out construction work or cleaning
work in or on the structure at any time or of any
person who may be affected by the work of such a
person at work. (i)The principal contractor and
other contractors pursuant to regulation
16(1)(e) (ii)The client pursuant to regulation
11 and (iii)Information from within the planning
supervisor's own knowledge and resources.
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A non-exhaustive checklist of the items of
information which should be included in the
health and safety file, based upon the ACOP, is
set out below. I . Historic site data 2.Site
survey information, pre and post construction
phase 3.Site investigation reports and
records 4.Photographic record of essential site
elements 5.Statement of design philosophy,
calculations and applicable design
standards 6.Drawings and plans used throughout
the construction process, including drawings
prepared for tender purposes 7.Record drawings
and plans of the completed structure 8.Maintenance
instructions 9.Instructions on the handling
and/or operation of equipment together with the
relevant maintenance manuals 10.The results of
proofing or load tests 11.The commissioning test
results 12.Materials used in the structure
identifying, in particular, hazardous materials
including data sheets prepared and supplied by
suppliers. 13.Identification and specification of
in-built safety features, for example, emergency
and fire-fighting systems and fail safe devices
(see also item 9 above) 14.Method statements
produced by the principal contractor and/or
contractors
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On completion of the construction work, the
planning supervisor's obligations are set out in
regulation 14 (f) which provides The planning
supervisor appointed for any project shall -
ensure that, on the completion of construction
work on each structure comprised in the project,
the health and safety file in respect of that
structure is delivered to the client. The
reference to 'completion of construction work' is
not defined, nor is any guidance provided in the
ACOP. Most standard forms of contract for
building or civil engineering works contain
expressions for completion such as 'substantial
completion' under the ICE Conditions and
'practical completion' under JCT 80. These
expressions are also not defined, except to the
extent that the issue of a certificate under the
relevant contract is evidence of such completion.
However, in most projects, there follows a
period of time during which the contractor has a
continuing obligation to complete minor items,
maintain the project and remedy any defects. A
contractor will often continue to be involved in
construction work and it is suggested therefore
that the planning supervisor should not hand over
the health and safety file to the client until
the expiry of the maintenance or defects
liability period. On receipt of the file by the
client, it should be kept safe and treated as
though it were part of the title documents for
the project and available for use at any time in
the future as envisaged by the Regulations.
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Implications for designers
There are serious financial implications to the
CDM regulations for any designer as it increases
the amount of research, records and
administration of the projects and the
practice. It increases the workload in areas of
a practice due to the clients duty under the
regulations to appoint a Competent Designer and
the consequent burden on practice of continual
proof of competence in areas such as
insurance's, the set up and hierarchy of the
practice, existing workload and spare capacity
to take on new work, technical support facility
availability, previous convictions within the
practice, accident records of the past, Methods
and systems utilised for communication with
contractors and consultants. Internal
communications set up these areas and records
have to become transparent to a client who wishes
to appoint a competent designer..
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The 'designer is further required to ensure
that the design makes adequate regard to the
need to avoid foreseeable risks to the heath and
safety of any person carrying out construction
work maintenance, or cleaning and to any person
who may be affected by the construction work or
cleaning, the design makes adequate regard to
the need to combat, at source, risks to health
and safety to any person carrying out
construction work, maintenance, or cleaning and
to any person who may be affected by the
construction work or cleaning, the design makes
adequate regard to give priority to measures to
protect persons at work and all persons who may
be affected by work of such persons, the
design includes information about matters that
might affect the health and safety of persons
rig out work or being affected by the work being
earned out by others.
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The 'designer' is required to co-operate with the
planning supervisor' and other designers to
ensure compliance with health and safety
requirements and to design in ways which avoid
risks to health and safety or reduces these risks
as far as practicable so that projects can be
constructed and maintained safely. Where risks
cannot be avoided information on them has to be
provided by the designer' for the planning
supervisor. The 'designer' is required to
ensure that the reasonable steps have been taken
to ensure that the 'client' is aware of the
duties imposed by the regulations and other
practical guidance issued by the Health Safety
Executive. The regulations do not require
architects to dictate construction methods or
exercise a health and safety function over
contractors as they carry out construction work.
Contractors have to manage the risks on site, but
designers can often eliminate or reduce them
before they happen. Although some minor work is
not subject to all the formalities of the
regulations the 'designer' is required to take
health and safety matters into consideration in
all cases. Responsibility for ensuring
compliance with the construction phase Health
Safely Plan rests with the 'principal Contractor'
but it is important that the architect acting as
the lead design consultant monitors and controls
design matters to ensure that inconsistencies in
design do not arise through separate discussions
with the planning supervisor on health and safety
matters.