April 2008

Builders thinking they only need do the bare minimum in terms of Health and Safety on site are being advised to be more vigilant to ensure they don’t get a nasty surprise from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)!

The warning comes from Joanna Mulgrew, marketing director at HBXL, the building software company, who says that since the new Construction Design Management (CDM) regulations came into force in April 2007, not enough builders are taking the new legislation seriously.

And with the HSE expected to step up its campaign across the country following the first 12 months of the new legislation, those who do not come up to scratch may be in for an untimely fine, closure of site or worse prison sentence!

Recent penalties have included a firm that was fined £12,500 in February 2008 for not putting in place the necessary precautions for working at height and for working near fragile material. In addition no risk assessments or method statements were undertaken. In November 2007 a firm was fined £10,000 under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 for an asbestos related incident.

Joanna said: “The introduction of the new CDM regulations last year means that all building companies, no matter how big or small, have to adhere to the new updated CDM laws.

“The revised scheme was brought in to help reduce the regulatory burden on the construction industry and improve the level of health and safety.”

The new CDM 2007 regulations places more responsibilities with the client, introduces the new role of CDM Coordinator and dispenses with the Planning Supervisor. They also clarify the designer’s duties and emphasises the contractor’s responsibilities.

Contractors or builders are also required to plan, manage and monitor the health and safety of all projects. In addition, contractors need to be competent and in turn, employ only competent sub-contractors.

Contractors also need to provide information to workers in the form of inductions, site rules and by drawing their attention to health and safety risks identified by risk assessments. They are also obliged to consult with their employees on health and safety issues.

The definition of ‘Notifiable Work’ also changed to include all construction work (lasting more than 30 working days or 500 person days) except where the project is for a domestic client.

Where the project is notifiable, contractors now have increased responsibilities with one of the main requirements being the preparation, development and implementation of a construction phase health and safety plan.

For Andrew Snell, who runs his successful family building business DJ Snell in and around Clacton-on-Sea, believes the introduction of CDM 2007 regulations didn’t have the impact everyone thought it would do.

Andrew said: “For me CDM 2007 hasn’t made a huge difference in the running of the business. We make sure our health and safety is always up-to-date anyway through the use of HBXL’s Health & Safety Xpert, so it was just a case of re-adjusting slightly and getting the latest version of the software. The main difference we noticed was in the terms of compliance but it was never going to be a horrendous change.”

Dave Price, a building health and safety consultant believes that the HSE has giving builders a 12-month honeymoon period to allow themselves enough time to get used to the new regulations. But now that period is over, David thinks they will now start to become more vigilant in terms of making sure builders across the country comply.

David said: “The new regulations certainly place more responsibility on the duty holders and there’s no early indicator if they have been a success or failure. My view is that the HSE has played a bit of a waiting game and will start to police the CDM 2007 regulations more vigorously. This means builders should be well prepared should they receive a visit. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the situation has developed by this time next year.”

Joanna concluded: “The key objective of CDM 2007 was to simplify and clarify the regulations. It is often very difficult for building businesses to know where to start on health and safety, so it’s imperative if they haven’t already put plans in place to do so immediately and not get caught out.”

HBXL’s latest version of its award-wining Health & Safety Xpert software has been designed specifically to help builders comply with all health and safety paperwork, allowing them to stay right up to date with their obligations on all health and safety issues. It interprets the ACOP (Approved Code of Practice) for CDM 2007, producing all the necessary paperwork.

Click here for more information about Health & Safety Xpert