CDM in Events and Productions 

Introduction 

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) are the main set of regulations for managing the health, safety and welfare of construction projects.

On 6 April 2015, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 replaced the 2007 Regulations and included activities within the entertainment industry which are deemed construction.

CDM and terminology can still be quite confusing. This reminder has been written to offer some further clarity and reminders about roles and responsibilities (and who assumes which roles).

These Regulations place specific requirements on the organisers and other individuals or organisations involved with an event.

Here is a summary; 

CDM Roles 

A client is an organisation or individual having a construction project carried out.  They may be:

- a commercial client i.e. one who has work carried out in connection with an event, concert, or festival whether for profit or not, or 

- a domestic client: who is having construction work carried out on their home, or the home of a family member, not connected with any business

​A designer is an individual or organisation who prepares or modifies designs for any part of a construction project or who instructs someone else to do it.

A principal designer must be appointed by the client of projects which involve more than one contractor.

A contractor is the individual or organisation which manages construction work or directly engages construction workers. The role includes companies who engage their own in-house workforce to undertake construction work.

A principal contractor must be appointed by the client to plan, manage, monitor and co-ordinate health and safety during the
construction phase of a project if the project involves more than one contractor.

A worker is an individual working for or under the control of contractors on a construction site.

Summary of Key Roles

A client has responsibility to make suitable arrangements for safely managing a project. Commercial client duties include:

1) notifying the HSE of certain larger projects (where construction work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point, or, exceed 500 person days);

2) preparing a client brief and pre-construction information;

3) drawing together a competent project team;

4) appointing a principal designer and principal contractor for projects involving more than one contractor and taking reasonable steps to ensure that they comply with their duties;

5) ensuring that sufficient time and resources are allocated;

6) ensuring that welfare facilities are provided throughout the project;

7) ensuring that a construction phase plan is drawn up before the construction phase begins;

8) for projects involving more than one contractor, ensuring that a health and safety file is prepared and is then kept and maintained for future use.

The principal designer (PD) is responsible for planning, managing, monitoring and coordinating health and safety in the pre-construction phase of a project. This includes coordinating the work of designers in identifying, eliminating or controlling foreseeable risks and ensuring that any designers they appoint are competent in their health and safety duties. The PD assists the client in the development of pre-construction information and ensures it is circulated to all parties.

The PD liaises with the principal contractor to help in the planning, management and monitoring of the health and safety in the construction phase. The role also includes compilation of the health and safety file.

The principal contractor's (PC) duty is to provide leadership and coordination of site health and safety. In particular the PC must:

1) plan, manage, supervise, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the construction phase of a project. This includes ensuring that: suitable site inductions are provided; reasonable steps are taken to prevent unauthorised access; workers are consulted and engaged in health and safety matters; and welfare facilities are provided;

2) liaise with the client and PD;

3) prepare the construction phase plan, keep it up to date and ensure that it is followed;

4) not commence work until satisfied that the client is aware of the duties owed by them under CDM 2015;

5) ensure anyone they appoint has the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out the work safely;

6) organise cooperation between contractors and coordinate their work;

7) liaise with other principal contractors and others on neighbouring premises

8) draw together information needed for the health and safety file and pass it to the PD.

The designer's role when preparing or modifying designs is to eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks that may occur during construction or maintenance of a structure or stage set or its subsequent use as a workplace (where applicable). They must ensure that designs for workplaces meet the requirements of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

The designer also provides information to other members of the project team to help them fulfil their duties and coordinates with other designers involved in the project.

The contractor's duties are to:

1) plan, manage and monitor construction work under their control so that it is carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to health and safety;

2) ensure anyone they appoint has the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out the work safely;

3) provide information and instruction to workers, including a site induction and emergency procedures (unless these are provided by a principal contractor) for projects involving more than one contractor, co-ordinate activities with others in the project team, comply with directions given to them by the principal designer or principal contractor and comply with the parts of the construction phase plan relevant to their work

4) for single contractor projects, prepare a construction phase plan;

5) not commence work until satisfied that the client is aware of their duties under CDM 2015

6) ensure that welfare facilities are provided for their workers and that reasonable steps have been taken to secure the site from unauthorised entry; 

7) fulfil the duties of designer when applicable including when designing temporary works

As people working for or under the control of contractors on a construction site, workers have duties as well as their employers. For example, workers must cooperate with their employer, fellow workers, contractors and other duty holders. 

As an example, installing a small rig or stage falls within the definition of construction work and will require a construction phase plan.

The construction phase plan must set out the arrangements for securing health and safety for the period during which construction work in a project is carried out.

Clients must ensure that an adequate construction phase plan is drawn up by the contractor (or principal contractor, in the case of projects involving more than one contractor). 

Principal designer replaces the role of CDM co-ordinator. The number of contractors (more than one) triggers the appointment of the principal designer. The principal designer must be appointed by the client and is the designer with control over the pre-construction phase of the project. For majoirty of production activities, the PD role may conbine with the PC role.

Clients have increased duties for the oversight of projects. These duties now apply to domestic clients as well as to commercial clients though in practice a domestic client's duties will usually pass to others. For projects involving more than one contractor, the client must appoint a principal designer and principal contractor.

Competence:  Competence assessment involves checks if skills, knowledge, training and experience, and, if it relates to an organisation, organisational capability.  The explicit guidance on assessing competence which was contained within CDM 2007, no longer exists.

Notification: Fewer projects are notifiable than they were under CDM 2007. The HSE (or other applicable authority) must now be notified if construction work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point, or, exceed 500 person days.

A Construction phase plan is now required for all construction projects instead of only notifiable projects; HSE’s ACOP L144 has been replaced by L153 guidance 

If you're still unsure, contact ESS and we can deliver a half day training session to a number of your project managers / production managers or senior staff