• Purpose & Scope
• Materials, Construction & Maintenance
  • Health & Safety
  • Risk Assessment
  • Contruction (Design & Management) Regs 1994
  • Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations
• Selection of Access Structures
• Design Sheets

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994

These Regulations, which are often referred to as the 'CDM Regulations', were introduced to help avoid foreseeable risks to the health and safety of any person involved in construction. They place duties on all those who can contribute to the health and safety of a construction project, including clients, designers, contractors and the planning supervisor.

The degree of detail, as well as the time and effort required to comply with the CDM Regulations is largely dependent on the nature, size and level of health and safety risks involved. Therefore, for small projects with minimal health and safety risks, it will only be necessary to take simple, straightforward steps and few, if any, specialist skills will be needed. The Regulations only apply to 'construction work' which effectively includes any building, engineering, maintenance, demolition and dismantling works. Within this definition, there are also a number of exclusions, most notably in the context of this Design Guide:

• works that are reasonably expected to last for less than 30 days (and less than 500 man days in total)
• works which involve not more than four persons at any one time.

If the CDM Regulations do apply, then there is a requirement to give consideration to a number of issues relating to:

• the appointment, roles and responsibilities of the planning supervisor, the principal contractor, the designer, the client or the client's agent and all those who contribute to the health and safety of the construction project;
• the preparation of a health and safety plan.

For further information, reference should be made to the full CDM Regulations (see Appendix 3 : References and Further Information). In particular, users of this Design Guide are recommended to consult the Regulations in order to check whether any proposed countryside access works fall within their ambit and, should they do so, to confirm the action that should be taken in order to comply with the Regulations.