What does a Client have to do?

Clients must fulfil a number of duties with respect to a project in the interests of guaranteeing the Health and Safety of everyone involved and affected by the planned works. For larger projects, you may already have appointed a Designer, as part of their duties under CDM they should have already briefed you with regard to the CDM Regulations.

There are two levels of application for the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 these are defined by a simple rule regarding how many contractors are involved in your project.

The 'more than one contractor' rule…

CDM 2015 has a threshold regarding how many contractors are involved in the planned works. Where a single contractor is undertaking all the works, there are slightly different rules than if there is ‘more than one contractor’ involved with the works.

A simple example of this is, if you were having the toilets upgraded at your workplace and you employ a plumber then this would class a single contractor project. If, however, you decided that the tiling in the toilets needed upgrading as well and employed a contractor to do this, you now have a plumber and a tiling contractor involved in the works, it is therefore a multi-contractor project and additional duties apply to your project.

In summary, you must ensure you have done the following on all projects:

1. Appoint the right people at the right time.
2. Ensure there are arrangements in place for managing and organising the project.
3. Allow adequate time.
4. Provide information to your Designer and contractor.
5. Communicate with your Designer and building contractor.
6. Ensure adequate welfare facilities on site.
7. Ensure a construction phase plan is in place.
8. Keep the Health and Safety file.
9. Protecting members of the public, including your employees.
10. Ensure workplaces are designed correctly.
11. Notify the HSE of your project if it meets the threshold.

If you are still unsure please contact our CDM department today for free impartial guidance on your project or to look at the ways that we can help you fulfil your duties as a CDM Client.