It has been announced this month that guidance relating to the new Contruction (Design and Management) Regulations, which was planned to be available now, will not be released until mid February. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) approved the new Regulations on 20 October 2006, and the accompanying Approved Code of Practice was expected to precede them. Even though the Regulations have been approved, the delay has been caused because they have not yet been passed on to the relevant minister to be signed off. As it stands, this is not expected to delay the Regulations from coming into force on 6 April 2007.
The new Regulations will consolidate the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 1994/3140 and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations SI 1996/1592, to form a single piece of legislation. They will increase the focus on effective planning and management of construction projects, specifically to improve risk management by making sure responsibility is given to those best placed to manage and influence it. In addition, they will also take into account recent changes in the provisions with regard to working at height.
In other news, the CDM One-day Legal Update Conference has been announced, which will take place on 15 March 2007. The conference aims to examine the forthcoming legislation changes, and what impact they will have on clients, designers, principal contractors and contractors.
