The Construction ( Design & Management ) Regulations 1994 and Acoustic Consultancy. Andrew J Asbury AMIOA.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, more commonly known as the CDM Regulations, have been in force for some time now, but there is still much debate as to their interpretation and the requirements of designers. It is likely that members of the acoustic consultancy profession may have heard some talk of these regulations, come across somebody calling themselves a 'Planning Supervisor', but otherwise have chosen to remain blissfully ignorant. This article will hopefully tell you everything you need to know about how the CDM Regulations affect your everyday business and how to avoid anything up to a twelve month prison sentence! The wisdom behind the CDM Regulations is to shift some of the responsibility for health and safety from contractors to designers. In the past, health and safety was almost solely the domain of on-site contractors, which put workers at unnecessary risk when implementing bad designs. Health and safety should be in the mind of the designer along with issues such as performance, cost, appearance etc. and should really hold equal importance. Unfortunately, don't think that being an acoustic consultant or engineer doesn't make you a designer! The legal definition of a designer is somebody who 'carries out design work', 'prepares specifications', and 'prepares bills of quantities'. The second point may trap acousticians unawares and the last point has caused much displeasure in particular amongst the quantity surveyors of this world, who would never before have dreamed of calling themselves designers. It may even be possible to cite your client as being a designer if you are faced with such strict specifications that the scope of your design is limited, though brace yourself for some tough legal arguments. So, if you cannot wrangle out of the Regulations through not calling yourself a designer (and I very much doubt you can) there are other recourses in that the Regulations only cover construction work on a 'structure' that involves more than 5 people, or lasts longer than thirty days. And if this has cheered you up, bare in mind the HSE has a list of definitions of a structure currently two pages long, and that the regulations could be referred to in civil cases as a standard code of practice of which you should be aware, regardless of the size of the job. If you're still convinced that the CDM Regulations do not apply to you, please do not feel the need to read further, though please feel free to share your reasoning with me! I am sure that by now you can think of jobs over the past few months where these regulations applied to you personally: the specification of acoustic hardware on a newbuild project, or maybe just the design of a large acoustic enclosure (which should be considered a structure). So what needs to be done to ensure compliance with the Regulations? The first step for a designer is to be appointed by a client (although the regulations are very sneaky by applying whenever a designer prepares a design to be used for construction work, regardless of the existence of a client). The client has a responsibility under the Regulations to ensure that the designer is 'competent' to complete that design and should be able to show that reasonable steps were undertaken to ensure the designer's competence on health and safety issues. Paragraph 35 of the Approved Code of Practice 'Managing Contractors for Health and Safety' identifies the following points to look for when assessing competence: Membership of a relevant professional body. Familiarity with construction processes in the circumstances of the project and the impact on health and safety (within reason). Awareness of relevant health and safety legislation and appropriate risk assessment methods. The health and safety policies of the designer as an employer, and for work carried out. Identities of the people who will carry out the work including the review of the design, their skills and training. The time allowed to fulfil the various elements of the designer's work (where appropriate). The technical facilities available to support the designer, particularly in the circumstances of the project. This is deemed as especially important in small companies. The method of communicating design decisions to ensure that the resources to be allocated are clear. ('resources' are defined as time, plant, equipment, technical facilities and personnel). The way in which risks left in the design will be communicated. Please make sure that you can show most of these things on demand for a client. If there is anybody out there who still does not have a Health and Safety policy for their employees written down it really is time to get one. The duties for the designer are contained in Regulation 13 of the CDM Regulations. The first duty is for the designer to make sure the client is aware of his/her duties before undertaking any design in respect of any project. It is doubtful that many companies in the construction industry fulfil this requirement save the Planning Supervisor. The second and most important duty is, when preparing a design, to avoid foreseeable risk for as many people involved in the construction process as possible, combat risks at source, provide information on any remaining risks and co-operate with the planning supervisor and any other designer involved in the project. The third duty provides a standard 'reasonably practicable' caveat that defines the areas of knowledge that a designer is expected to realise. The first step when thinking about these issues is not to panic. The CDM Regulations are not supposed to invite writing two pages on the dangers of lifting bricks nor should they involve indicating a risk of finger injury during installation of a nail (both of these are true examples). It is perfectly safe to assume that contractors are competent and do not need obvious risks pointing out to them. Nor do we need to tell the contractor how to do his job. It is instead our new responsibility to design out as many risks as we can and, when we cannot, to make sure that we point out the risks that are not obvious. This is normally done by a risk assessment form. A typical assessment form is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. A typical risk assessment form. Now, let us assume we are on the design team for a new night-club, with residential properties nearby. As such, we are responsible for some major design decisions. We require the night-club to be constructed of a high density concrete block, to ensure acoustic performance of the wall structure. There are risks associated with this decision: Dense blocks can be difficult and dangerous to lift, are more likely to cause harm if dropped than standard building bricks, and entail more frequent rebuilding of scaffolding as they cannot be lifted as high by a builder. These risks should be addressed in the following way: (i) can the risk be eliminated, (ii) can a substitution be effected? It may be possible to effect a substitution by replacing the dense block with a double skinned brick wall. However, our primary concern has to be acoustic performance, if the double skinned wall is not satisfactory the dense block wall remains, it is the residual risks that need to be identified to the Planning Supervisor in a manner not dissimilar to that shown in the risk assessment form. It is important to remember that safety is just one issue and is no more important than any other. The Planning Supervisor's job is then to correlate all the remaining risks to form a Health and Safety plan for construction. Note that a scaffolding strategy has not been produced, nor have any suggestions for handling the dense block. These points are up to the contractor to work out, we have merely had to identify an important hazard that we cannot design out. Perhaps now it can be seen more clearly the additional scope of responsibility the designer has. With a little thought about the use of materials, the scope of substitution, manual handling problems, and the necessity of working at height it is perfectly reasonable to identify all the risks that implementing our designs will involve. This process should be considered for construction, maintenance and demolition. It is difficult to predict how long the CDM Regulations will be with us. They have had a major impact on construction work, creating a specific new role of ?Planning Supervisor?, it is doubtful that these people would want to see the regulations vanish! The basic premise of putting safety in the mind of the designer is sound, though at first sight it may be seen as just another sheet of paperwork. Perhaps in the short term this extra time and paperwork may cost the industry money, though the longer term will produce safer products and sites. Notwithstanding this, the CDM Regulations are the law of the land and we all have new responsibilities that need facing. Andrew Asbury AMIOA is with PDA Ltd., a member of the Association of Noise Consultants.