New Health and Safety rules can protect warehouse operators and staff

The new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) introduced last year make the client ultimately responsible for on site Health and Safety. This means the law now affects any logistics executive responsible for managing a warehouse construction or extension. From extensive experience in managing Health and Safety issues on site, David Oatley from warehousing and distribution property specialist sbh believes the Act is working well and that it is helping professional and responsible managers to operate safely and effectively.

“Introduced in April 2007, the CDM regulations place greater legal responsibility than before on the shoulders of the client for Health and Safety matters before, during and even after a building project is completed. The Act therefore affects senior managers in any logistics business commissioning either a new warehouse or a major extension, who could in the worst case be prosecuted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act of 2007.

However initial experience is showing that observing the Act’s requirements and recommendations is leading to safer and better organised projects, particularly where the client is willing to take advantage of specialist consultancy expertise.

The client’s role
The client is the person or group holding the purse strings, whose decisions may have a substantial influence over the financing, planning and management of a project, each of which can affect on site Health and Safety. Delegating the project to various contractors does not provide a get-out clause as the buck still stops with the client – but does make selecting the right contractors vitally important.

Staying on the right side of the law can be complex and most company executives will routinely seek outside help in such matters. For property issues many companies prefer to use the services of a consultancy such as sbh, with extensive experience of designing and project-managing warehouse construction. Our experience and understanding of the law helps to reassure clients that they are fully compliant with the latest directives, leaving them free to concentrate on running the core business.

How the CDM works
The client must be able to show that correct and adequate Health and Safety procedures are in place, are communicated to all concerned and regularly monitored.
Under CDM 2007 the client must select and appoint a CDM Project Co-ordinator (CDMc) (formerly the Planning Supervisor) – an individual or organisation who will act as the client’s leading manager for the project.

As the role of CDMc is now so important, it is vital that the client selects someone with the competence, experience, time and funds to carry out the role. The CDMc will also play a pivotal role in selecting, briefing and managing contractors and subcontractors and for ensuring that the project is managed in accordance with the law’s requirements.

At the heart of the process are the CDM manuals that the CDMc must help prepare and monitor. They will include a full record of how the building was constructed and provide a working document to be kept up to date by the client with alterations, so that the occupier has all the information needed to ensure the structure’s continued safety.

Progress and experience to date
Having already completed projects as the CDMc for client such as Maplin and A. S. Watson since CDM 2007 came into effect –and from many other similar projects in the past, both the sbh team and clients find that the required systems and manuals are helping to make the construction process more efficient and safe. While the manuals can follow a standard format, at sbh we have worked with clients to adapt the manuals to reflect each individual project’s requirements, which has made them more useful and practical in giving Health and Safety issues a higher profile.

One outcome is that from the first contact, the client now more fully understands the importance of the CDMc and the additional responsibilities involved. We are finding this helps make the client more aware – which in turn is leading the client to more fully appreciate and value independent guidance and support. The design teams are more focused on the benefits of the system as well as the penalties they might incur if they fail to take all reasonable steps. Education and motivation are most important for those many clients for whom the project is a one-off – who have no prior experience and may not get involved in a building project again.

By helping to make clients take Health and Safety issues more seriously and happily leading to fewer accidents, CDM 2007 is off to an encouraging start.

Room for improvement
As with any new procedure, experience throws up possible improvements and the CDM is no exception. While method statements and risk assessments within the manual are part of the procedure, it would be clearer to all if they were a mandatory part of the CDM files. Such a move would for example ensure that the information would be on file for building alterations or even demolition. In addition, retaining records of all staff safety inductions might prove useful as protection against frivolous or malicious industrial injury claims.

As with most new laws, it takes some time before everyone is aware of the changes.
There is still a big job to be done to make all the various trades and professions, from architects and surveyors to specialist engineers, more aware of the legislation, its benefits and penalties. Some will need specific guidance, so that for example those responsible are more aware of exactly what a design risk assessment should address and contain.

Either through ignorance or to save costs, clients are leaving it late to select the CDMc, which means the appointee needs time to catch up and the client fails to get full benefit of the CDMc’s expertise when it can be at its most valuable. Fee levels too do not yet fully reflect the role, possibly due to a lack of understanding of the importance and the complexity of the work involved. A fully qualified CDMc who should be a registered member of the Association of Project Safety will be a skilled professional and should be given both the time and resources to carry out such a vital role to the best of his or her ability.

There is no doubt that it will take some time for the Act to have its full impact. But it has already begun to change perceptions within the logistics industry. Clients are responding positively once we have explained how the process operates and appreciate the potential benefits of working to or beyond the standards required with an experienced consultancy.”

July - 2008