Jenny Pattison reviews key changes to health and safety legislation in the construction industry
From April 2007, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (the 2007 regulations) will arguably represent the single most important set of regulations covering all construction work in Great Britain. The 2007 regulations revise and bring together the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (SI 1994/3140) (the 1994 regulations) and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/1592) in an attempt to improve health, safety and welfare of construction projects.
The 2007 regulations will apply to all ‘construction work’ and there will only be two types of construction project: notifiable and non-notifiable. A notifiable project will remain one where construction activity will last, or is likely to last, more than 30 days or more than 500 person days on site. The distinction in the 1994 regulations between projects to which the 2007 regulations apply and those which are notifiable has been removed.
Many of the duties placed upon the key players in the project team are already in place in existing legislation, but the 2007 regulations brings these together
