CDM compliance sounds like a filing exercise and is really four questions. Which duty holder are you on this job. Has the construction phase been planned proportionately and written down. Are you cooperating with the other duty holders and sharing what they need. And can you produce the evidence when somebody asks, which on a managed site is at the gate and on a bad day is afterwards. Everything in a template pack exists to answer one of those.
Know which role you are holding under CDM construction duties
On a single-contractor job the contractor picks up duties that would otherwise sit with a principal contractor, including the construction phase plan. On a multi-contractor job the roles are appointed, and knowing which one you hold decides what you owe. Most confusion about cdm construction duties is really confusion about the role.
Plan the phase, proportionately
A construction phase plan for a domestic bathroom is a page; for a commercial fit-out it is not. What it must contain is the description of the work, the management arrangements, the site rules and the control of the significant risks. Producing none is the failure that actually gets caught.
Keep the evidence in the shape it is asked for, as a CDM template pack does
A cdm template pack is useful because it produces the documents in a recognisable order: the plan, the assessments and method statements, competence and training evidence, and the information for the health and safety file at the end. Assembled per request from scattered files, the same evidence takes a day and looks improvised.
Questions people ask about cdm compliance
What does CDM stand for in construction?
Construction (Design and Management), the regulations governing how construction work in Great Britain is planned and managed. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent.
Does CDM apply to a one-day job?
The duties apply to construction work regardless of length; what changes is what is proportionate. A short simple job needs a short plan, not no plan.
Who keeps the health and safety file?
The client, with the information provided by the duty holders. Contractors are usually asked for their part at handover, which is far easier if it has been collected as the job went along.