This article was produced by Nabarro LLP, which joined CMS on 1 May 2017.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published the outcome of the public consultation on the proposals to revise the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/320) (the Regulations), and recommends amending the Regulations, to come into force in April 2015.
One aim of the revisions is to embed the health and safety role into the project team by replacing the role of the CDM coordinator with a principal designer. Whilst a majority (52 per cent) of the respondents to the consultation supported the proposal, concerns were raised relating to:
a) whether the existing project team designers would have the "appetite" to take on this new role; and
b) whether, in practice, the existing project team designer would in fact sub-contract the role to a party experienced in ensuring compliance with the Regulations.
Comment
The HSE recognised that, particularly initially, the coordination role may continue to be delegated. It will be interesting to see whether in practice project team designers will accept this additional role and whether their professional indemnity insurers will cover this.
