In November last year, Workplace Law conducted a survey, stemming from the proposed HSE re-write. Early indication suggested there was potential for the CDM Coordinator (CDMC) role to be removed with responsibility falling to the Lead Designer. The research aims were to discover the effectiveness of CDMCs, how and when they were appointed, whether their competency was assessed as well as their health and safety performance.
The Association for Project Safety (APS) has published an article in its June Digest explaining the industry’s concerns about the future involvement of CDMCs, citing Workplace Law’s research and report, The Responsibilities of CDM, which can be downloaded here.
Simon Toseland, Head of Health and Safety, comments: “We were delighted that the Association for Project Safety have used our research which, for me, demonstrates that having a Competent CDM who is appointed early enough can really make a difference and add real value to a project. Should the HSE decide to go ahead with their decision (to revoke the CDMC role) we will use this data to support our case to challenge it.”
The APS is working hard to show the significant benefits that the CDMC can bring in helping a project finish on time, on budget and fit for purpose. From this survey it was encouraging to see that many Clients (over 40%) look for membership of the APS as an important part of the CDMC competency assessment.
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