Keywords
Citation
(2001), "Designer duties made clear in new CDM regulations", Facilities, Vol. 19 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2001.06919cab.006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Designer duties made clear in new CDM regulations
Designer duties made clear in new CDM regulations
Keywords: Health and safety, Building design, Legislation
New regulations which came into force recently will clarify that designers do have responsibility for health and safety in all designs that they, and their employees, directly prepare.
The Construction (Design and Management) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (CDM), will address a decision by the Court of Appeal, in which they accepted that where designers arranged for someone else, such as an employee, to prepare a design, the employer did not have a duty under the CDM Regulations 1994. This was contrary to HSE's interpretation on the intention of the law.
The amended regulations, which came into force on October 2, ensure that legal duties on designers to build safety into a design, apply not only to a design prepared by them personally, but also to a design prepared by an employee or other person under their control.
HSE is also in consultation on new guidance for the CDM Regulations 2000. Managing Construction for Health and Safety, CD 161 is available online at http://www.hse.gov.uk/condocs/cd161.htp