Hi dg

There is no specification in UK law for someone in the role of either the Principal Contractor - almost identical duties to those of the PSCS, or for the Principal Designer - similar duties to those of the PSDP.

Except that any duty holder under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 in GB and its parallel in NI should have appropriate "skills, knowledge and experience" and, if an organisation the "organisational capability".

CDM 2015 and the accompanying guidance, L144, makes it quite clear that the roles of both PC and PD will generally require an organisation, though possibly with some individual acting as a "CDM Adviser" or similar title.

So, the general assumed gold standard general H&S training for a site manager or site supervisor would be Construction Skills' Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) or Site Supervisor Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) but other options are accepted by key players in the industry.

For the role of a CDM Adviser to a PD, less clear guidance as to what might be the gold standard but the Associationi for Project Safety accredits various training programmes and sets rules for eligibility for various grades of membership of APS. These were amended when the legislation changed in 2015 to draw a clear distinction between those whose academic qualifications and experience are in DOING design and/or  DOING construction from those who are primarily health and safety professionals.

Assuming it is still available on the HSENI website, you might want to look at the "competence" specifications for individuals and organisations that were set out in the Approved Code and Guidance, L144, that supported the previous iteration of the regulations, CDM 2007.

One of the problems that applies to many training courses aimed at upskilling those who would be supporting the role of Principal Designer arises from the way the parent EC Directive has been transposed in the UK.

In the original version of the regulations, CDM 1994 only transposed the MANAGEMENT requirements of the Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites Directive - e.g. a requirement for a Designer to apply the "General Principles of Prevention" as set out in the EC Framework Directive, leaving all the hardware stuff - e.g. you must ensure that an excavation is adequately supported or put in place other precautions to prevent a person being injured by a collapse" in a separate code of regulations the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 which essentially consolidated requirements that Contractors had had to comply with since the 1960s (and earlier).

So the training that was on offer for CDM 1994 tended to focus on the management requirements and did NOT run through the hardware requirements.

In 2007 the second iteration of CDM included a merger to take on board CHSWR.

What followed was that many training programmes then devoted too much time to the hardware requirements in Part 4 of CDM, thence reducing content on the key management issues - perhaps why these have been MUCH less well implemented than was initially hoped over 25 years ago.

I would note that exactly the same issue often applies to courses aimed at upskilling someone to support the role of PSDP.

The management requirements of CDM have been little enforced particularly when it comes to the roles of Designer, PD (and forerunners Planning Supervisor and then CDM Co-ordinator), and to a slightly lesser extent the Client. 

If you wish you can check the statistics. www.hse.gov.uk then search for Enforcement and it will take you to the databases on Prosecutions and Notices.

So, to a large extent it is up to you to determine whether someone with PSDP or PSCS qualifications would be right for a CDM project in GB or NI but you should probably consider whether any such course, especially one to upskill someone for PSDP, is good enough to fit the bill in either the UK or RoI!

The Directive and the regulations that implement it is founded on the principle that the best time to reduce risks on site is during the early stages of planning and design - well before a spade is put in the ground!