Posted By Merlin
The surveying and the information you collate should be handed to the CDMC for inclusion into the ‘Pre-Construction Information’ which is then passed to he Principle Contractor who would then develop their Construction Phase Plan

So the answer to “Does this mean that we should class surveying and site investigation prior to starting the construction phase as part of the construction phase plan?” is No

Posted By mrs.seed
My colleagues and I have spent many hours debating this, playing devils advocate etc and came up with the following conclusion from the 'interpretation' (Reg 2) section of the Regs.

"Construction Work" = The preparation of an intended structure, including site clearance, exploration, investigation (but not site survey) and excavation etc"
i.e. As soon as you put a spade in the ground/do something to affect the existing structure you are starting "construction work"

"Construction phase = the period of time starting when construction work in any project starts and ending when construction work in that project is completed"
i.e. You started the construction phase when you dug that borehole, therefore the construction phase of the project started then too.

"project" = a project which.....and includes all planning, design, management and other work involved in a project until the end of the construction phase
i.e. The site investigation and main build are all part and parcel of the one project, therefore the construction phase starts at the beginning of the site investigation and doesn't finish until the end of the main build.

Believe me, we were desperate to show that the site investigation could be a project in its own right, so we would only have to deal with part 2 of the regs for this part of the project, but we couldn't. Our project managers don't like it, (costs) but tough!

Posted By TomP
As a company involved with SI (drilling, trial pitting etc.) it is very clear to us our work falls within CDM and always has done.

This scares many people while others see it as an opportunity to charge extra money although the duties are not dissimilar to those under the general management regulations which we should all be doing anyway.

Regardless of our opinions in the industry the application of the regulations depends on two things:

• What the regulations state
• How the client views our activities

The mistake most people fall into on the application of CDM is whether work is notifiable or not by hitting the 30 days / 50 person days trigger. Regardless of this, CDM applies to all construction and construction is defined in the regulations as:

‘Any civil engineering ….the preparation for an intended structure, including site clearance, exploration, investigation (but not site survey).’

The only possible get-out is ‘Site Survey’ which is described in the ACoP as ‘taking levels, making measurements and examining structure for faults’ which means like it or not drilling, trial pitting etc. must be covered by CDM.

The phrase used in a previous post above ‘I would not feel that Parliament intended that the construction phase started when the drilling rig or mini digger hit site’ concerns me. This was absolutely the intention of the HSC as the ACoP states ‘the key aim is to integrate health and safety into the management of the project and to encourage everyone to work together’. I have first hand experience of how this should have worked if the client had appointed a CDMC, who would have assessed the competence of the demolition contractor, who would have capped the gas supplies on site instead of turning them of at stop taps.

The key problem for us to manage in the SI industry is how clients perceive us. The major clients definitely view us as construction (hence the number of questionnaires related to CDM and insistence by some on CHAS registration) and are prepared to discharge their duties. They the expect us to do the same.

The smaller clients do not understand, or do not want to understand, their duties under CDM and that is where problems occur. It is up to us to educate them and under CDM we, as the contractor or principal contractor, have that duty.

Notifiable or not? Most of our projects are. I have a copy of a ruling by the HSE clarifying this in relation to SI. Can’t publish it here as it is from a trade journal, but the upshot of it is if there is a project on the table, of which the SI is part and the project in its entirety is notifiable, then SI is part of the notifiable period. The only exemption is when the SI is speculative (to inform a land purchase or similar).

Remember though CDM still applies, notifiable or not….!!!!

Posted By MetalMan
Thank you all for your responses.

H/M

Posted By TomP
I would say absolutely. If the diversion of services is part of a pending construction project I see no reason why it shouldn’t be part of the notifiable period.

The CDM clock starts ticking when the CDM co-ordinator is appointed and this should take place before significant design work takes place and you wouldn’t divert services unless you have a plan to build something.

Hope this helps.