In his SHP article, ‘A construction designer’s dilemma: CDM2015’, John Carpenter gives a somewhat downbeat, but perhaps understandable assessment of the UK government’s attempts to implement CDM over the last 20 years. But are there any positives – or solutions under the current arrangements?
Mention CDM in a construction project meeting and there is likely to be a combination of sighs and sharp intakes of breath. Some see it as a chore, an increasing mountain of paperwork; others see it as an opportunity. We don’t know yet what the principal designers think, possibly because we aren’t completely sure who they are going to be. But we can speculate, and mostly we see them as someone else to take on the ‘mantle’ of ensuring construction health and safety.
Perhaps therein lies the problem. Ever since CDM 1994 landed on the statute books, the industry has been wrestling with the concept of just who should bear the burden of coordinating the design process on building projects. That’s one reason why it was delayed for a year until April 1995.
But who has responsibility for coordinating the activities so the building can be constructed safely? Surely the answer is staring us in the face – we all do.
From the client who decides that the solution to their problem with space is to build, to the designer who designs it and the builder who builds it; each has a responsibility to make sure that the person with the shovel or the hammer or the paintbrush who is tasked with actually carrying out the construction or subsequent maintenance can do so in relative safety, returning home to their families at the end of each day.
People in construction tend to think in ‘silos’. They don’t like to share their knowledge, much less take advice from others, even in the face of an increasing body of evidence showing that early contractor involvement, coordination, risk management and other basic tools significantly improve the end product, as well as the reputation and financial viability of everyone in the industry.
But that is all going to change. With the advent of Building Information Models (BIM), collaboration is essential. And since health and safety information is just like any other information, it can be used in BIM, only much more effectively.
BIM is not computer aided design (CAD). While objects in a model have dimensions, they can also have properties relating to material content, mass, chemical make up and so on. This information can be checked for compliance with health and safety standards, and each item of work simulated before it is constructed, to iron out risks and hazards. Models are already used for training, visualisation and a host of other applications.
And who coordinates this information in the future? We all will. Use of BIM will enforce the discipline needed for the designer to complete the design, and for the builder to build it.
Legislation is not necessarily a bad thing. It is fair to say that accidents and deaths in our industry have reduced significantly as a result, whatever the diverse make up of that industry may be, and CDM is simply another piece in the jigsaw.
How it is interpreted helps enormously, and it might be a starting point if everyone sang from the same hymn sheet. For example, compare the description of ‘preconstruction information’ in HSE’s ACoP L144 with the requirement of CDM 2007 regulation 10.
So it is not a single responsibility but a collective one. Collectiveness requires collaboration; if everyone collaborates, coordination is easy. Collaboration is the way of the future.
Roland Finch, BSc FRICS ACIArb, is a chartered quantity surveyor with over 30 years’ construction industry experience in both the public and private sectors.
