CDM 2015 for Electricians: Your Duties and Responsibilities

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 — commonly known as CDM 2015 — are the primary legislation governing health and safety management in construction work in Great Britain. They replaced the previous CDM 2007 regulations and came into force on 6 April 2015.

CDM 2015 applies to all construction work. There is no minimum project size, value, or duration below which the regulations do not apply. Whether you are rewiring a house, installing a consumer unit, or working on a multi-million pound commercial development, CDM 2015 applies to your work. Electrical installation work is explicitly included in the definition of "construction work" under the regulations.

The purpose of CDM 2015 is to ensure that health and safety is considered throughout the lifecycle of a construction project — from initial design through to completion and handover. The regulations require that risks are identified and eliminated (or reduced) at the design stage, that construction work is properly planned and managed, and that information about the completed structure is recorded for future reference.

For electricians, CDM 2015 means that every job you undertake has a legal framework for health and safety management. Understanding your duties as a contractor under CDM is just as important as understanding the technical requirements of BS 7671 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

CDM 2015 applies to all "construction work" as defined in Regulation 2. The definition is broad and includes:

The only electrical work that falls outside CDM 2015 is work that does not involve a "structure" — for example, repairing a portable appliance or testing equipment that is not part of the fixed installation. However, even this work is covered by the general duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

CDM 2015 has additional requirements that are triggered when a project has more than one contractor or when the construction phase will last longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at any one time (or exceeds 500 person-days). These "notifiable" projects must be notified to the HSE before work begins.

CDM 2015 defines five duty holder roles. Each has specific legal duties:

As an electrical contractor, you will most commonly be in the "contractor" role. On domestic jobs where you are the only trade, you may also take on the duties that would otherwise fall to the principal contractor (because the domestic client's duties transfer to you). If you design the electrical installation (which most electricians do), you are also a "designer" with design duties.

Regulation 15 sets out the specific duties of contractors. As an electrical contractor, your CDM duties are:

These duties apply regardless of the size of the project. Even on a small domestic rewire where you are the only contractor, you have a duty to plan, manage, and monitor your work. In practice, this means having a risk assessment and method statement for the job, briefing any employees or apprentices, and checking that safe working practices (such as safe isolation) are being followed.

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On projects with more than one contractor, the client must provide pre-construction information (PCI) to the principal designer and principal contractor. As an electrical contractor (subcontractor), you should receive this information from the principal contractor before you start work on site. If you do not receive it, you should request it.

Pre-construction information includes:

For domestic projects where you are the sole contractor, pre-construction information is not formally required under CDM 2015 (because the domestic client's duties transfer to you). However, you should still gather relevant information about the property before starting work — for example, the age of the existing wiring, whether asbestos is present, and the location of the incoming supply and meter.

The construction phase plan is a document that sets out how health and safety will be managed during the construction phase of the project. On projects with more than one contractor, the principal contractor must prepare the construction phase plan before work begins on site.

As an electrical contractor, you will be expected to contribute to the construction phase plan by providing information about the health and safety risks associated with your work and the control measures you will use. The plan typically includes:

For domestic projects where you are the sole contractor, you do not need a formal construction phase plan. However, you must still plan your work safely. A risk assessment and method statement (RAMS) for each job serves this purpose and demonstrates compliance with your planning duty.

The health and safety file is a document that records information about the completed construction work that will be useful for future maintenance, alteration, or demolition. On projects with more than one contractor, the principal designer is responsible for preparing and maintaining the health and safety file. At the end of the project, the file is handed over to the client.

As an electrical contractor, you should contribute information to the health and safety file, including:

The health and safety file is a living document — it should be updated whenever further construction work is carried out on the building. If you carry out an alteration or addition to an existing installation, you should provide updated information for the file. This is where accurate, professional certification is essential — and where Elec-Mate's digital certificate tools add significant value.

CDM compliance requires planning, documentation, and competence. Elec-Mate provides tools that support all three aspects of your contractor duties:

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