Regulation 4 of CDM 2015 requires a client to make suitable arrangements for managing a project, including allocating sufficient time and other resources, and to keep those arrangements under review until the project ends. Arrangements are suitable if the work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to health or safety, and the required welfare facilities are provided.
Most clients have never read Regulation 4. It is short, and it sets out almost everything the client has to do.
What the regulation says
4(1): make suitable arrangements for managing the project, including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources.
4(2): they are suitable if the work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to the health or safety of anybody affected, and the welfare facilities in Schedule 2 are provided.
4(3): maintain and review the arrangements throughout the project.
4(4): provide pre-construction information to every designer and contractor appointed or being considered.
4(5): make sure a construction phase plan is drawn up before the construction phase begins, and that the principal designer prepares a health and safety file.
4(6): take reasonable steps to make sure the principal designer and principal contractor carry out their duties.
4(7): pass the health and safety file on if the client sells their interest in the building.
4(8): where there is more than one client, they can agree in writing which of them will be treated as the client.
What "suitable arrangements" means in practice
HSE's guidance (L153) is clear that clients are not expected to manage the work themselves. They are expected to set the project up so that it can be managed safely. The arrangements should fit the project and be proportionate to its size and risks, and should cover:
assembling the project team: appointing designers and contractors, including a principal designer and a principal contractor where needed;
making the roles and responsibilities clear;
allowing sufficient time and resources for each stage, from concept to completion;
making sure the team can communicate, cooperate and coordinate;
how the client will check that the principal designer and principal contractor are doing their jobs, for example at progress meetings or through written updates;
keeping the health and safety performance of designers and contractors up throughout;
making sure workers have suitable welfare facilities for the whole of the construction work.
L153 suggests a client's brief as a way of writing these down: what the finished project must do, how it will be managed including its health and safety risks, a realistic timeframe and budget, and a single point of contact in the client's organisation.
Time is a safety question
"Sufficient time" sits in the first line of the regulation. A programme that cannot be delivered safely pushes risk onto site: trades stacked on top of each other, work done out of sequence, temporary works checked in a hurry. Our free construction programme checklist starts with six questions to ask before a programme is issued.
"Maintained and reviewed" means the whole project
Regulation 4(3) turns the arrangements into an ongoing duty. A client who appoints a principal designer, issues some information and then steps back has not maintained suitable arrangements. The practical test is evidence: notes of the progress meetings where health and safety was discussed, the updates the client asked for, and what changed as a result.
If the appointments are not made
Where there is more than one contractor, Regulation 5 requires the client to appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing, before the construction phase begins. If they do not, the client must carry out those roles' duties themselves (5(3) and (4)).
Common questions
Can a client hand the duties to a CDM consultant?
A client can get help, and L153 notes that the principal designer should be able to help with the arrangements. The duties stay with the client. See appointing a CDM consultant does not discharge your client duties.
Do these duties apply to homeowners?
No. For a domestic client, the duties in Regulation 4(1) to (7) pass to the contractor, the principal contractor or, by written agreement, the principal designer. See domestic clients under CDM 2015.
Do they apply to small jobs?
Yes, in proportion. See does CDM 2015 apply to small projects?
Related: pre-construction information under CDM 2015 and the health and safety file.
This article is general information, not legal advice.