The Health and Safety Executive has insisted it is on track to bring far-reaching changes to the CDM Regulations into law by April 2015 – the last opportunity to pass new legislation before next year’s General Election.
In the industry, speculation has been mounting that the update now known as “CDM 201X” might be pushed beyond the General Election due to lack of parliamentary time – or even by political lack of enthusiasm for additional EU-driven regulation.
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The delayed update to the CDM Regulations 2007 is intended to bring the UK’s health and safety management system fully into line with the EU Directive 92/57/EEC on “Temporary & Mobile Construction Sites”, first published in 1992.
But this will mean the HSE needs to find a way of extending the CDM Regulations to cover some domestic projects, raising the prospect of similar headlines to those that greeted the so-called “conservatory tax” .
An H&S insider said: “My perception is that the HSE have all their ducks in a row, but it’s being held back by the minister rather than the HSE. The introduction of CDM Regulations to domestic projects wouldn’t be an easy pill for Middle England to swallow.”
“The introduction of CDM Regulations to domestic projects wouldn’t be an easy pill for Middle England to swallow.”
H&S insider
Other key features in the delayed update – originally due to be published for consultation in March 2013, ahead of implementation in 2014 – include the likely demise of the CDM coordinator role, with their responsibilities being taken on by the “principal designer”.
There is also likely to be a drastic reduction in the size of the accompanying Approved Code of Practice, with more reliance on industry-produced guidance instead.
This week, an HSE spokeswoman insisted to CM that the HSE is making progress behind the scenes, although she did leave open the possibility that ministerial or political delay could still scupper the timetable.
The spokeswoman said: “We don’t yet have a date [for publication of the consultation draft] but we’re moving forward with the various processes that need to happen at government level, for instance we have clearance from the Regulatory Policy Committee [a non-departmental public body that scrutinises plans to introduce or repeal regulation].
“Then we will need to have it cleared by the minister [Mike Penning at the Department for Work and Pensions] and other parts of government. We’re not going to speculate on a date, but we’re still on track for it to be passed into law by April 2015.”
In a written statement, the HSE added: “We would like to thank the industry for its support during the development of the proposals and its continuing patience while we prepare for the consultation.”
The HSE’s commitment to the April 2015 deadline will be welcomed by the industry, but insiders have told CM that the HSE needs to publish the draft within the coming weeks if it is to be realistically achieved.
James Ritchie, head of corporate affairs at the Association for Project Safety, which represents CDM coordinators, said: “The longer they leave publication, the less consultation time there will be. At the moment, we have working groups in the industry producing guidance on documents that haven’t gone out to consultation yet.”
He also said: “The EU directive is being reviewed next year anyway, as construction practices have moved on in 20 years. It could be the government says let’s wait until the election’s over, then we can see what the EU is doing.” However, Ritchie stressed that this was personal speculation.
Vaughan Burnand, chair of the CIOB’s Health and Safety group, said that the HSE did not seem to be prioritising the update, although it was unclear why. “We were told [by the HSE], ‘we’re all carrying on, but take the ‘four’ away from 2014 and we’ll let you know’.”
“This is the last year of the government, and there is this idea that it mightn’t be until after the General Election, which is fairly shocking in my view.”
Dr Billy Hare MCIOB, senior research fellow in H&S at Glasgow Caledonian University and also a member of the CIOB committee, confirmed that the update was being referred to by the HSE and others as “CDM 201X”.
He also anticipated that the update could bring a major shake-up. “I would say the 2007 update was pretty ineffectual – the name was changed from planning supervisor to CDM coordinator but it didn’t change much. So I’m hopeful the new version with the idea of the principal designer, which gives the role more authority, is possibly a watershed.”
Main image credit: <a href=’http://www.123rf.com/photo_16906183_two-foreman-discussion-on-construction-site.html’>ndoeljindoel / 123RF Stock Photo</a>
