CDM client duties explained

Who is a client under CDM 2015?

Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, a client is any person or organisation for whom a construction project is carried out. For a commercial project, this is usually the organisation commissioning and paying for the work.

A commercial client can be a company, landlord, developer, local authority, charity or other organisation having construction work carried out in connection with a business. The business does not have to operate for profit. HSE guidance: commercial clients, roles and responsibilities (opens in a new tab)

The client role matters because the client has significant influence over how the project is procured and managed. The client decides what is to be built, when the work should happen, who is appointed and what time and resources are available. CDM 2015 therefore places duties on the client from the early stages of a project rather than treating health and safety as something that begins once work reaches site.

Domestic clients are also within the scope of CDM 2015, but most of their client duties are normally carried out by other dutyholders. That distinction is covered later in this guide.

What are the main CDM client duties?

For a commercial client, the core duties are to:

• make suitable arrangements for managing the project and keep those arrangements under review;
• allocate sufficient time and other resources for the project to be carried out safely;
• appoint designers and contractors with the right skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability;
• appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing where more than one contractor is involved, or is reasonably foreseeable;
• provide relevant pre-construction information to designers and contractors;
• ensure a construction phase plan is in place before the construction phase begins;
• ensure a health and safety file is prepared for projects involving more than one contractor and retained after the project;
• take reasonable steps to ensure the principal designer and principal contractor carry out their duties;
• ensure suitable welfare facilities are provided; and
• notify HSE where the project meets the separate F10 notification thresholds.

The level of management should be proportionate to the project. A small refurbishment does not need the same governance structure as a major development, but the legal duties still need to be addressed. HSE guidance: commercial clients, roles and responsibilities (opens in a new tab)

Make suitable arrangements for managing the project

The starting point for the client is to make suitable arrangements for managing the project. These arrangements should allow the work to be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to the health or safety of anyone affected by it, and they must provide for the required welfare facilities. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects (opens in a new tab)

In practice, suitable arrangements are more than a statement that “the contractor will manage health and safety”. They should set out how the project team will be assembled, who is responsible for what, how information will flow, how the programme and resources support safe delivery, and how the client will maintain oversight as the project develops.

The arrangements should be maintained and reviewed throughout the project. If the scope, programme, design, procurement route or project team changes, the client should consider whether the original arrangements are still suitable.

A clear client brief can be a useful way to record the project requirements, management expectations, key constraints, timeframes, budget and health and safety standards. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction, PDF (opens in a new tab)

Allow sufficient time and resources

CDM 2015 specifically requires the client to allocate sufficient time and other resources. This matters because unrealistic programmes and inadequate budgets can undermine the ability of designers and contractors to plan work properly, coordinate activities and control foreseeable risks. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects (opens in a new tab)

The duty applies across the project, from concept and design through to construction and handover. The client should therefore avoid setting dates or commercial constraints that leave key dutyholders without enough time to prepare information, develop designs, plan the construction phase or put appropriate welfare and risk controls in place.

“Resources” is wider than money. It can include competent people, access to information, management time and the practical support needed for dutyholders to carry out their roles.

Appoint the right designers and contractors

Anyone making an appointment under CDM must take reasonable steps to ensure the person or organisation has the skills, knowledge and experience needed to carry out the work in a way that secures health and safety. Where an organisation is appointed, its organisational capability is also relevant. Read Regulation 8 on legislation.gov.uk: general duties, including skills, knowledge and experience (opens in a new tab)

For the client, this means procurement should consider health and safety capability as part of selecting designers and contractors rather than relying only on price, availability or a general statement of competence. The extent of the checks should reflect the complexity of the project and the nature of the risks involved.

Clients should also make sure the roles and responsibilities of those appointed are clear. Ambiguity at the start of a project can create gaps in design coordination, information provision and construction planning later.

Appoint the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor when required

Where a project involves more than one contractor, or it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will be working on the project at any time, the client must appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing.

The principal designer is the designer with control over the pre-construction phase. The principal contractor is the contractor with control over the construction phase. The appointments must be made as soon as practicable and, in any event, before the construction phase begins. Read Regulation 5 on legislation.gov.uk: appointment of the principal designer and the principal contractor (opens in a new tab)

The principal designer should normally be appointed early enough to influence design and help coordinate pre-construction information. The principal contractor should be appointed early enough to plan the construction phase and prepare the construction phase plan before work starts.

If the client fails to make a required appointment, the duties do not disappear. The client must fulfil the relevant principal designer or principal contractor duties themselves.

Provide pre-construction information

The client has the main duty to provide pre-construction information. This is information already in the client’s possession, or which is reasonably obtainable by or on behalf of the client, that is relevant to the work and proportionate to the risks involved.

It may include information about the project, existing structures, previous health and safety files, asbestos information, surveys, existing services, access restrictions, operational interfaces, known hazards and the client’s management arrangements.

The information must be provided as soon as practicable to every designer and contractor appointed, or being considered for appointment. On a project involving more than one contractor, the principal designer will normally help the client bring the information together and make sure it is suitable for the project team. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction, PDF (opens in a new tab)

Pre-construction information should be useful and relevant. Sending large amounts of unstructured information without identifying what matters does not necessarily help the project team manage risk.

Ensure a construction phase plan is in place before work starts

Every construction project requires a construction phase plan before the construction phase begins. On a single-contractor project, the contractor is responsible for drawing it up. On a project involving more than one contractor, that responsibility sits with the principal contractor.

The client’s duty is to ensure that the plan has been prepared before construction starts. The plan should set out the arrangements for managing health and safety during the construction phase and should be proportionate to the project and its risks. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects (opens in a new tab)

A client does not need to write the construction phase plan for the contractor, but they should not permit the construction phase to begin without being satisfied that the required plan is in place.

Ensure the health and safety file is prepared and retained

A health and safety file is required for projects involving more than one contractor. The client must ensure that the principal designer prepares the file and that it is reviewed and updated as the project develops. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects (opens in a new tab)

At the end of the project, the completed file should be passed to the client. The client must keep it available for anyone who may need the information for future construction work, such as maintenance, refurbishment or demolition.

If the client later disposes of their interest in the structure, the relevant health and safety file must be passed to the person taking over that interest, together with an explanation of its purpose.

The file should contain information that will genuinely assist future work. It is not intended to be a general archive of every project document.

Take reasonable steps to check the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor are carrying out their duties

Appointment is not the end of the client’s involvement. Where a principal designer and principal contractor have been appointed, the client must take reasonable steps to ensure they comply with their CDM duties.

This does not mean the client has to supervise their technical work or duplicate their responsibilities. HSE guidance suggests that proportionate oversight can take place through project progress meetings, written updates and other agreed reporting arrangements. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction, PDF (opens in a new tab)

The client should be able to see that the pre-construction phase and construction phase are being planned, managed, monitored and coordinated, and that significant issues are being addressed. If warning signs appear, the client should not simply assume the appointment itself has discharged the duty.

Ensure suitable welfare facilities are provided

The client’s project arrangements must ensure that the welfare facilities required by CDM are provided for people carrying out construction work. These requirements cover facilities such as toilets, washing, drinking water, changing where required and rest areas. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects (opens in a new tab)

In practice, the principal contractor or contractor will normally arrange and manage site welfare, but the client should make sure suitable provision is allowed for from the outset and is not treated as an optional cost to be resolved after work begins.

What happens if there is more than one client?

Some projects have more than one organisation or individual who could meet the definition of client. CDM 2015 allows one or more of those clients to agree in writing to be treated as the only client or clients for most of the client duties. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects (opens in a new tab)

This should be resolved early. HSE guidance suggests looking at who ultimately decides what will be constructed, who commissions the design and construction work, who initiates the project, who sits at the head of the procurement chain and who appoints designers and contractors. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction, PDF (opens in a new tab)

Even where one client is formally identified to carry the main duties, the other clients retain certain duties to cooperate and provide relevant information in their possession.

How do the duties work for domestic clients?

A domestic client is someone having construction work carried out on their own home, or the home of a family member, where the work is not connected with a business.

CDM 2015 still applies, but the client duties normally pass to other dutyholders. On a project with one contractor, the contractor normally carries out the client duties. Where there is more than one contractor, the principal contractor normally carries them out. HSE duty-holder summary: summary of duties under CDM 2015 (opens in a new tab)

A domestic client can instead enter into a written agreement with the principal designer for the principal designer to carry out the client duties. This is a specific arrangement under CDM and should not be confused with the position for commercial clients. HSE domestic client guidance: domestic clients, roles and responsibilities (opens in a new tab)

Can a commercial client delegate its CDM duties?

A commercial client can appoint competent people to help it manage a project and can ask designers, contractors, advisers or project managers to carry out practical tasks on its behalf. That does not, by itself, remove the client’s statutory responsibilities.

There are specific provisions within CDM for particular situations. For example, where there is more than one client, the clients can agree in writing who will be treated as the client for most duties. Domestic-client duties are also transferred in the way described above.

For an ordinary commercial project, however, appointing a consultant to “manage CDM” should not be treated as a way of transferring the client role. The client still needs suitable arrangements, appropriate appointments, information, resources and proportionate oversight.

A practical CDM client duties checklist

Before and during a construction project, a commercial client should be able to answer yes to questions such as:

• Have we identified who the CDM client is?
• Have we confirmed whether the project is likely to involve more than one contractor?
• Are the project management arrangements proportionate to the work and its risks?
• Have sufficient time, money, people and other resources been allowed?
• Have designers and contractors been checked for appropriate capability?
• Where required, have the principal designer and principal contractor been appointed in writing and early enough?
• Have we gathered and provided relevant pre-construction information?
• Is a construction phase plan in place before the construction phase starts?
• For a multi-contractor project, is the health and safety file being prepared and updated?
• Are we taking reasonable steps to check the principal designer and principal contractor are carrying out their duties?
• Are suitable welfare facilities provided from the start of construction work?
• If the project is notifiable, has the F10 been submitted to HSE?
• Are the project arrangements being reviewed when the scope, programme or team changes?