CDM Awareness
In construction and property, CDM is an acronym for Construction (Design and Management), CDM Regulations and it governs the health and safety involved in a construction project, so focus is put on workforce safety. The purpose of CDM awareness training, set out in the 2015 regulation, is to identify and implement ways to improve all aspects of health and safety in the construction industry.
The Construction Design and Management Regulations (CDM) 2015 control and harmonise the planning and management of construction projects in the UK. It’s aim is to safeguard and protect the health and welfare of those working in construction. This HSE guide to CDM awareness, “Need Building Work Done?“, gives those who are planning small scale building works an explanation of how to comply with CDM. It acts as a guide to ensure the construction is safe to build while offering good value to prospective clients
The regulations are divided into the following sections,
- Part one, introduction, interpretation and definitions.
- Part Two, client duties notification and appointments of duty holders, an application to domestic clients,
- Part three, health and safety duties and roles and details of the three primary documents
- Part four general requirements to be followed on all construction sites for specific hazards.
- Part five general enforcement in respect of fire.
Who is this course for?
This course is primarily aimed at those who act at key CDM duty holder as they have the legal responsibility to comply with the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015. CDM regulations refers to five duty holders. They are
- The Client: any person for whom a construction project is carried out. Where there is more than one client on a specific project, the client is the person who ultimately decides what is to be constructed where, when and by whom
- The Principal Designer is the individual or organisation with control over the pre construction phase of the project. Where there is more than one contractor on a project, the client must appoint the principal designer in writing
- A Designer is an individual or organisation who either prepares or modifies a design for a construction project, or arranges for or instructs any person under their control to do so
- The Principal Contractor is the person or organisation coordinating the work of the construction phase.
- A Contractor is anyone who directly employs or engages construction workers or managers construction work.
Obligations of Duty Holders
The course covers the legal obligations of each of the duty officers in detail .Every duty holder, from the client to the contractor must appoint competent people, meaning they must appoint the right people for the job. There should be organisational capability with policies, structures and safe systems in place. Employees and individuals should be suitably capable and have the skills knowledge, experience and training for the task they are undertaking.
So those responsible for appointing a designer or contractor must take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the people they appoint, have the right health and safety skills, knowledge and experience.
A designer or contractor appointed to work on a project must not accept the appointment unless they have appropriate skills, knowledge and experience themselves, or they have these capabilities within their organisation to ensure the health and safety of anyone affected by the project
Notification and Required Documents
The course details when notification is required. Where notification of a project is required, you will be guided through the process of who need to be notified and the forms that need to be submitted to do so.
The Construction Design and Management regulations 2015 state that any non-domestic client must check what documents are already in their possession that will be relevant to a project such as an existing health and safety file. CDM required documents are:
- the pre construction information, which is required on all projects.
- The construction phase plan, which is also required on all projects and
- the health and safety file which is only required when there is more than one contractor but the client may request one irrespective of the number of contractors.
Those responsible for health and safety need to refer to HSE L153 which is the legal guidance provided by the health and safety officer authority. It explains what duty holders must do to comply with the law, which should now be much easier than it used to be as CDM regulations are now more streamlined, linear and much simpler than it used to be.
| Course Content | Module |
| Legislation | 1 |
| CDM Application and Notification | 2 |
| Duty Holders and Documents | 3 |
| Duties and Legal Documents | 4 |
| Example Projects and Summary | 5 |
Course Assessment
Online assessment for this CDM awareness training is carried out by a series of multiple choice questions. Candidates must answer 75% of the questions correctly to pass each module. We advise you to complete each module and answer the question before moving on to the next module. This provides a better learning experience because you will need to have knowledge from earlier modules to understand some of the material in the later modules. For those who complete the course successfully, a PDF certificate of the award is sent directly to your inbox. Hard copies of the award are available on request. The course takes 50 minutes of training to complete. This is course content only and does not cover the time it takes to answer questions.
You may also be interested this related course to CDM Awareness is Working Safely Training