Health and Safety Legislation: CDM 2007 and the Duty Holder Responsibilities - Term Paper Example

Health and Safety Legislation CDM 2007 and the Duty Holder Responsibilities 1. Introduction In CDM 2007, duty holders are advice to take all necessary action to control the risks. For this reason, they are more accountable for the standard of health and safety applied to a project. In other words, when an accident occurs as a result of negligence or breach of the CDM 2007 Regulations, all duty holders are legally liable. The following section discusses the requirement of CDM 2007 particularly the duty holder’s responsibilities in relation to the case study, control measures they should employ, and their liabilities in case of accident. 2. Duty Holder’s Responsibilities under CDM 2007 Generally, CDM or Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 increase client’s duties by making their present management responsibilities in basic health and safety law more precise in relation to CDM. In other words, they will be more liable for the standards of health and safety employed to a project. Predominantly in Regulation 9, clients are advised to take practical steps to guarantee that there are proper management arrangements ready all through the project. These arrangements must make certain that the construction work can be performed without risks to health and safety, that welfare provisions are ready prior to the commencement of construction works at site, and the structure designed for use as a workplace complies with the Workplace (Health, Safety, and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (Booty 2009, p.65). Unlike previous CDM, CDM 2007 Regulations have been rearranged to group duties collectively by duty holder. Moreover, health and safety requirements which were with Construction (Health, Safety, and Welfare) Regulations are now under CDM 2007’s Part 4 and Schedule 2 (Hughes & Ferrett p.152). CDM 2007 Regulations now cover all construction work regardless of its significance and duty holder’s fundamental duties are set out in part 8 (Joyce 2006, p.142). The objective of the new regulations are to have the right group for the right job at the right time to deal with risks on site, trim down paperwork and promote teamwork. In particular, the amendment aims to make it convenient for duty holders to identify their duties and responsibilities and to be flexible enough to cover the wide assortment of contractual arrangements. 2.1 General Responsibilities In compliance with the general principle of prevention, each person with functions related to design, planning, and preparation of a project should think about and make certain that these preventive principles are applied in the performance of their duties in all phases of the project (Construction Confederation 2008, p.18). Under the CMD 2007, a duty holder must ensure that each part of the workplace has a suitable and satisfactory safe access and egress, which all must be free of health and safety risks and effectively maintained. In case there are places around the workplace that is not safe for people or workers, measures should be taken to prevent access to these places. More importantly, there should enough room for people to work (Furness & Muckett 2007, p.364). Generally, a duty holder’s construction site and other places of work must be maintained in good order and free from danger as reasonably practicable. Signs and other visual notifications must be posted whenever necessary so people working or visiting the place would be aware of things they should observe. 2.2 Specific Responsibilities The latest CDM 2007 Regulations places a legal duty on several types of people involve in the construction project. These ‘duty holders’ include clients, designers, contractors, workers, and others who have to be appointed as advisors. Compared to previous CDM, the duties of the principal contractors and contractors in CDM 2007 remain the same despite of the slight changes. However, CDM 2007 strongly stresses the need for cooperation between all duty holders. For instance, the client has the duty to provide leadership to the construction team and responsible for the health and safety of those working under him. Similarly, the designer should also consider eliminations or reduction of hazards and coordinate and inform the contractors if he is introducing hazardous materials or process. The contractors then would be responsible in ensuring that risks are identified and are properly controlled (HSE 2008, p.14) In relation to the case of a Topo Roofing joiner accident, the principal contractor is responsible for managing all sub-contractors. The principal contractor would manage and take over the health and safety aspects of the project during the actual construction work. In performing his duties, he should liaise with the contractor during the construction and he should lay out sire regulations and ensure that they adhered to. In particular, workers should be given the necessary information and training to ensure they are aware of the health and safety regulations. Moreover, it is also his responsibility to ensure the site is left in a secure state at all times (Blanco & Le May 2008, p.14). The principal contractor is responsible to the activities of his sub-contractors as in the case of Joseph McEvoy, a general labourer who fell from a skylight in the roof in 2003. Similar to Topo Roofing, his employer was contracted to clean and repair the roof. In an investigation conducted after the accident, the sub-contractor was accused of failing to make a risk assessment of the work or make any arrangements to ensure the McEvoy would be safe while working on the roof. Similarly, the principal contractor was also charged of failing to consider the safety of the sub-contractor and McEvoy during the work they had been contracted to do. Consequently, they were both charged and fined by the Liverpool Crown Court. In an almost similar accident involving a sub-contractor and a worker in 1995, the principal contractor argued he’s got nothing to do with that accident because he had not failed to ensure his own employees health and safety. He insists that it is his sub-contractor who failed to ensure their employees were safe. However, the court decided that the principal contractor’s duties and responsibilities cover not only his employees but also independent contractors who worked for the employer’s undertaking (Blanco & Le May 2008, p.14). 2.3 Control Measures Required Under the CDM 2007, duty holders must take all practicable measures to prevent danger to any person from the accidental collapse of any existing or newly installed structures which may become unstable during construction work (Furness & Muckett 2007, p.365). In the case of the joiner working for Topo Roofing who accidentally stepped on a fragile roof light and fell, CDM 2007 Regulation 19 clearly requires the principal contractor to coordinate with other contractors and this includes ensuring compliance with his directions and providing details on the management and prevention of health and safety risks created by the contractor’s work on site (Joyce 2006, p.140). The client’s part in these control measures to ensure health and safety in the construction site include checking the competence and resources before appointing anybody. The client should provide sufficient time and resources and ensure that pre-construction information is provided to designers and contractors. Similarly, the designer must also take measures through design to avoid or eliminate hazards and reduce risks. The principal contractor on the other hand has a wider set of duties to control and prevent health and safety hazards. This is because he is directly responsible for planning, managing, and monitoring the actual construction work. For instance, he has to layout plans and site rules and provides the contractors with relevant parts of the plan. He must ensure that all welfare facilities are in place and maintained, and check the competence of all people who will work for the project. More importantly, he must ensure that all workers have site inductions, information, and training required for the work. The sub-contractor or all contractors undertaking the work for the principal contractor should also provide control measures to ensure health and safety at site. For instance, they have the duty to plan, manage and monitor their own work and ensure that all workers working for them are qualified. They should also require training their employee and providing health and safety information to their workers. Comply with the requirements stated in Part 4 of the Regulations and provide adequate welfare facilities for their workers. Under CDM 2007, almost everybody has the duty to install control measures to ensure the health and safety of construction workers and others who may be affected by the work (Hughes & Ferrett 2008, p.153). 2.4 Liabilities in case of accident It is generally considered a criminal act to contravene CDM regulations as Regulation 45 of CDM 2007 clearly specifies that breaches of a particular duty may confer a right to make a civil claim. This can be breaches on regulations concerning site safety such as working at heights, use of equipment or duties under Regulations 26 to 44 such as provision of welfare facilities and so on (Perry 2008, p.15). Let us take for example the HSE prosecution at Preston Crown Court of a client, designer, and planning supervisor under the CDM 1994 when a worker lost his life when he fell from the roof. According to the HSE, a man lost his life in circumstances that could so easily have been prevented is tragic. Fragile roof materials are well-known and it should be taken into consideration during the planning stage and taken into account during the actual execution of the work. Moreover, significant time and work had been spent planning the job and those who were involved, aware of the delicate materials of the roof, undoubtedly has every opportunity to take into account the likelihood of falling from the roof during construction. If steps have been taken and regulations were followed, the worker’s death could have been prevented. These regulations as mentioned earlier still exist in CDM 2007 Regulations 26 to 45 thus duty holders are liable to any accident arising from breach of any of these regulations. 3. Conclusion The CDM Regulations 2007 clearly stresses that need for duty holders to be competent to do the jobs and ensure that the project is properly maintained and supervised. The liability from the accident involving a worker from Topo Roofing, a sub-contractor hired by the principal contractors, would come from the fact that Regulation 4 requires all duty holders to take reasonable steps to ensure that the person to work on a task is competent. In other words, the direct responsibility falls on the principal contractor and the sub-contractors since the worker who suffered serious injuries is directly working for them. More importantly, under CDM 2007 Regulations, duty holders appointed by the client must be competent enough to manage and instruct a worker to carry out a task. Clearly, the Topo Roofing joiner was asked by his ‘incompetent’ supervisor to work on the roof without taking any consideration of the risk involved. Similarly, the principal contractor, regardless of the risks involved, instructed his sub-contractor to proceed. Any breach of health and safety regulations would actually hold all duty holders accountable, from the client to the sub-contractors. This is because CDM 2007 specifically requires all duty holders to ensure health and safety at work even from the design and planning stage and they are advised to work meticulously to avoid accidents and save lives. 4. Bibliography Blanco N. C. & Le May D. 2008. Working with Contractors 2008: Special Report, Workplace Law Booty F. 2009. Facilities Management Handbook. Butterworth-Heinemann, UK Construction Confederation. 2008. House builders health & safety manual. Construction Industry Pubs, UK Furness A. & Muckett M. 2007. Introduction to Fire Safety Management, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK Health and Safety Executive.2008.CDM Regulations Guidance 2007: Construction (Design and Management Regulations 2007), HSE, UK Hughes P. & Ferrett E.2007. Introduction to health and safety at work: the handbook for the NEBOSH national general certificate. Butterworth-Heinemann, UK Joyce R. 2006. Workplace law handbook. Workplace Law Group, UK Perry P. 2008. CDM 2007: Questions and Answers. Butterworth-Heinemann, UK Read More