Trust is critical in any business and never more so when your responsibility for ensuring health and safety compliance is on the line.
CDM Regulations impact all areas of property, estate, construction and project management and outsourcing the expertise allows architects and specifiers to retain their focus on their core services. And with health and safety presenting a minefield for any project, businesses need to be confident they are outsourcing to the right experts with the right level of experience.
Property and estate compliance specialist Inspectas has more than 20 years’ experience in CDM consultancy for clients including large new build schemes in busy city centre locations to refurbishment works in live manufacturing environments and office space refurbishments.
The company’s Health and Safety Divisional Lead Naveed Mohammed, says that while the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 put the onus and responsibility onto architects, designers and contractors, help and support is available for meeting and exceeding these obligations if the right experts are enlisted.
“Management of the statutory construction, fire risk and wider health and safety issues on any build or refurb project is non-negotiable so expert, external support is often needed to allow architects and project teams to keep the focus on their core strengths,” says Naveed.
“As a Principal Designer is a legal requirement for any project with more than one contractor, some clients opt to contract out this role, and with it all aspects of CDM, or simply opt for an assistant to their own internal Principal Designer.”
He adds: “Given the weight of responsibility for getting health and safety right, we’ve compiled a list of top tips to help businesses make a strong assessment of the CDM specialists they are considering, before making that vital appointment and launched a new website to help navigate the complexities of CDM and its regulations.”
Inspectas’ five top tips for appointing a CDM specialist:
- Appoint your Principal Designer early
- Make sure your consultancy shortlist includes professionals with appropriate technical knowledge relating to your construction project
- Ensure they have the ability to understand, manage and co-ordinate the pre-construction phase
- Can they demonstrate they have health and safety skills, knowledge and experience and the organisational capability to carry out the role?
- Ensure your specialist has membership of the Association of Project Safety
Inspectas was formed in 2013 by asbestos management professionals Craig Candlish and Matthew Fahy. In a bid to become a transformational force in the sector, they combined their expertise to launch Inspectas Compliance and today have a portfolio of over 150 clients in the education, healthcare, retail, construction and industrial sectors.
For further advice and CDM compliance insights visit the Inspectas CDM website inspectascdm.co.uk