New Research on CDM 2015 Principal Designer Role

THE HEALTH and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging the construction industry to get involved in important new research on the Principal Designer (PD) role under CDM 2015 by completing an online survey.

HSE has appointed MPW R&R Ltd, an independent construction safety consultancy, to do the research, which HSE says is vital to the construction industry.

The survey is seeking the views of organisations and individuals that have experience of the PD role either by:

• being appointed as a PD;
• being appointed as one of the other CDM 2015 duty holders (Client, Designer, Principal Contractor or Contractor); or
• working on or interacting with construction projects where a PD was appointed.

The views of individuals who have experience of the PD role, regardless of project size, would be welcomed.

Construction Design Management Regulations 2015

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are the main set of regulations for managing health, safety, and welfare in construction projects.  They apply to all building and construction work and create five duty holder roles – including the Principal Designer (PD).

Survey questions will ask how the Principal Designer role is being implemented. This will broaden understanding of the benefits of the role as well as the challenges of implementing it.

In addition to the industry-wide survey, the research will also be seeking the views of key stakeholder organisations via a series of personal interviews and/or written submissions.  These will be analysed in conjunction with the survey results to help draw overall conclusions.  Research findings will be published on HSE’s website as a Research Report, freely available to download.

Principal Designer

The survey can be completed here. It should take around 30 minutes to finish and closes on Friday 5 March.

Survey responses will not be passed on to any other party, including HSE; all information on the survey forms remains confidential to MPW R&R.  Results will be provided to HSE in aggregated format only, and no individual will be identifiable in the data or reports.