The recent key changes in Construction design and management (CDM) regulations, and how this relates to asbestos.

Last Updated on February 10, 2015 by neilhardy

There has been a change in legislation, due to begin April 6^th 2015, put into place by the CDM (construction design and management) making changes from the 2007 regulations.  The changes are to keep up to date with a need for increased health and safety within construction projects. Asbestos is heavily linked to the construction trade so it is important that all asbestos training is satisfactory and up to date in order to adhere to the legislation.

Key changes;

• The HSE ( health and safely executive) now will need to be notified if the project is longer than 30 working days in duration or has more than 20 workers working simultaneously.
• The role of CDM coordinator role was responsible for planning and managing health and safety on site but this has been dropped on construction sites and has been replaced by the role of principal designer. The principal designer will need to be involved at pre construction and design stage, this is so as health and safety is maintained at every stage of construction.
• Under new regulations, domestic properties are also required to act in accordance to the new regulations, domestic clients can, however, delegate to a principal designer.
• Construction phase plans will now need to be used on all projects, including smaller ones.
• It is now a legal obligation for duty holders to provide information, instructions, training and supervision to contractors. The industry needs to know that that construction project teams have the ability and competence to safely complete the project. The contractor should have the suitable attributes to complete a project; skills, knowledge, training and experience and organisational capability.

Although many aspects of the regulations have remain unchanged ie. technical standards, there are other changes which could be directly linked to Asbestos training and surveying;

If the project is taking place on a construction built before the year 2000 it is likely that asbestos is present. Duty holders, alongside with the principal designer will need to ensure they have suitable asbestos management in place, along with refurbishment/demolition surveys dependent on the construction being carried out, so as not to put anyone working on the project at risk. This falls under the pre construction stage. Additionally the duty holders and principal designers may require training on asbestos so they can suitably provide the necessary support to the contractors.

Regulations applying to domestic properties mean houses that are undertaking renovations will need to conduct refurbishment/demolition surveys.

Now the industry needs to be sure that all contractors are fully qualified to work with asbestos, contractors will need to show their competence and that they have the adequate skills and training to take on the project and act in accordance to health and safety regulations. If they are not qualified they will need to go through proper training. Additionally, refresher courses will need to be attended annually to keep up to date with the training.

At Armco we offer a wide range of asbestos training, suitable to all markets. We have online courses, as well as classroom based training courses is asbestos awareness, working with non-licensed asbestos and face fit testing training. In order to meet the legislations safely we can provide you with flexible training. Contact out office on 0161 761 4424 or head to our training website and fill in the contact form. https://www.armcoasbestostraining.co.uk/

Additionally we qualified surveyors specialising in Management and Refurbishment/demolition surveys.  If you are in need of an Asbestos Survey or unsure whether your premises requires one, we will be only too happy to oblige, you can get in touch us on 0161 763 03727 or fill in our contact form on our website https://www.armco.org.uk/

Published Feb 10, 2015