The Principal Designer and Designers?

The Construction (Design and Management Regulations) 2015 is the only construction-specific legislation within Great Britain. It is abbreviated with "CDM 2015". These regulations are effectively the same as The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016.

A Principal Designer:

The “Principal Designer” is the person or organisation appointed in writing by the client to manage health and safety during the pre-construction phase of a project.

A Designer:

The “Designer” is any person or organisation, including a client or contractor making design decisions, who prepares or modifies a design or arranges for or instructs any person under their control to perform design, relating to a structure, product, or mechanical or electrical system, intended for a particular structure.

The Role of the Principal Designer

The Principal designer, appointed in writing by the client, controls health and safety during the pre-construction phase of the project.

The Principal designer is only needed to be appointed on projects involving more than one contractor;

·         The Principal Designer duties would normally be carried out  by a team of people within the appointed organisation, but maybe an individual for minor and non-complex projects. The Principal designers duties are to;

·         Plan, manage, monitor and co-ordinate health and safety during the pre-construction phase of the project.

·         As with other duty holders ensure that any designers or contractors within their own organisation or contracted by the principal designer organisation are skilled, knowledgeable and experienced and that the organisation is capable of carrying out their duties.

·         Ensure that all designers identify, and attempt to eliminate or reduce risk by their design decisions, applying the general principles of prevention, as described within the CDM 2015 overview online training course.

·         Identify what is needed for inclusion within the pre-construction information, advise the client on what additional information is required, assist the client in obtaining it, and then provide the relevant information to other members of the project team that need it.

·         Ensure that the designers provide information about their designs and residual significant risks that remain after the designers have attempted to eliminate and reduce risks.

·         Prepare a health and safety file, or review and update an existing health and safety file during the project, and pass it to the client at the end of construction.

·         If the principal designer’s appointment does not extend to the end of construction, the principal designer should pass the health and safety file, in its incomplete status, to the Principal Contractor to complete the health and safety file and pass it on to the client.

The role of the designers:

Designers duties:

A designer is anyone who makes a design decision and their employer.

The designer duties on all construction projects, are to:

Ensure that the client is aware of the client’s CDM 2015 duties prior to performing any design.

Ensure that any designers or contractors within their own organisation or contracted by them are skilled, knowledgeable and experienced and that the organisation is capable of carrying out their duties.

Ensure that the design and designers’ duties are complied with by any designers employed or engaged by them, including any designers who are based outside Great Britain.

The ETD CDM 2015 – The Principal Designer - Designers

For more information on hazardous substances, you can complete CDM 2015 – “The Principal Designer” course. Follow these five simple steps to get started.

·         Create a free company account or single user account, selecting the £12+ VAT payment scheme.

·         Purchase your user accounts using the online Elavon platform.

·         For company accounts, create your user accounts (using unique usernames) and “activate” each user by pressing the “activate” button.

·         Purchase your online training by selecting the courses that you require. Ticking a course will instantly assign it to the user’s account.

·         Once the courses have been assigned, single users can access the course under “my courses”. Company users can log into their account, go to “my courses” and start the training.

If you require any assistance with the online training, then please contact our support team , who will be happy to help.