ABSTRACT
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM Regulations) are of significant importance to the health and safety management of UK construction projects. The Regulations emphasize the management of health and safety throughout all stages of construction projects and have brought about a shift in the approach to health and safety management within the UK construction industry. This shift has been towards proactive safety management throughout the processes of planning, design and production. In developing a proactive safety management approach, the Regulations place specific duties upon numerous parties to certain construction projects. Moreover, all parties to certain projects must now be coordinated and managed throughout all stages of the project. The Regulations also place responsibilities upon two new duty holders - the planning supervisor, appointed by the client and having overall responsibility for health and safety in design and planning, and the principal contractor, who must manage health and safety on site.
