A design for life

“Shouldn’t you be on the other side of the glass?” quipped a project manager after I introduced myself as a construction lawyer during a reception at the London Aquarium. The Pacific Ocean shark exhibition was behind me.

I tried to change the subject. “Did you know that most sharks swim in their sleep?” I quizzed. “They need to keep swimming to breathe. That one on the bottom’s a nurse shark. It can breathe without swimming.”

“Actually, I think you’re mistaken,” replied the project manager. “It’s a planning supervisor shark. They survive without moving too.”

It’s rare to be at an event where someone is actually further derided than the lawyer, but will the forthcoming Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, due to come innto force in April 2007, do anything to improve the image of the planning supervisor?

What’s in a name?

You only need to look at British politics to see that rebranding is the first step in attempting to transform public opinion, and so it is that the planning supervisor will cease to exist come April.

Instead, the ‘project co-ordinator’, who must be appointed before any design work starts, will be in charge of health and safety matters.

However, the CDM revision goes much further than a simple name change. In a consultative document accompanying the draft regulations, the Health and Safety Commission stated its aims of improving the management of risk by:

• simplifying the regulations to improve clarity;
• maximising the flexibility of the regulations;
• making the focus of the regulations planning and management;
• strengthening the requirements regarding co-ordination and co-operation;
• simplifying the assessment of competence.

In the main, the simplification is achieved by combining the existing 1994 and 1996 regulations, as well as clarifying each of the duty holders’ responsibilities. For example, the principal contractor now has a defined list of duties and express responsibility for health and safety.

In addition, new notification requirements simplify the application of the regulations, with a notifiable project being one for which the construction phase is likely to last longer than 30 days or 500 person days. The client and project team still have duties on non-notifiable projects, but the requirements for appointments, plans and other paperwork have been relaxed.

Maximising flexibility

The new regulations seek to be proportionate to risk and the needs of smaller businesses by dropping the requirement to appoint a planning supervisor and have plans for projects involving five or more workers.

The principal contractor now has a defined list of duties and express responsibility for health and safety during construction.

This should not result in a lowering of standards on smaller projects, as other safeguards have been introduced, but it does shift the emphasis to risk management which is proportionate to the project.

Planning and management

The health and safety plan is to be replaced by a practical information pack. The health and safety file remains the post-construction information record, although there will be a separate file for each building, making it more practical for the occupier.

Co-operation and co-ordination

Co-operation between parties should be improved by new client duties, which include ensuring health and safety arrangements are in place and the provision of information.

In addition, the regulations impose a new mobilisation period to ensure adequate facilities are available prior to the works commencing. Co-operation duties are imposed on the designers and contractors, so each party is clear on its role.

Competence assessments

While existing regulations require the appointment of competent duty holders, they offer little guidance. By contrast, the new regulations are published with guidance notes detailing good practice to assist in competence assessment.

Civil liability

The new regulations will extend a right of action to employees suffering injuries resulting from an employer’s failure to comply with health and safety procedures. This does not amount to a radical revision of the current position, as this right is currently available to employees under the Management (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations 1999.

It is unlikely that the 2006 regulations will improve the planning supervisor’s image overnight. However, provided they reduce accidents in the work place, co-ordinators should be content.

And as for the image of the world’s second oldest profession? Let’s just be thankful for estate agents.