The professionals' view of the Health and Safety Commission's draft Construction (Design and Management) Regulations

This paper reports the situation in early 1993 at the end of the consultation period and before negotiations between the Construction Industry Council and theHealth and Safety Executive commenced. These have led to the great majority of the Council’s recommendations being accepted. In June 1992 the Council of theEuropean Communities adopted the Directive 'The minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites'. This is to be transposed into UK law by new Regulations made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The Directive and the Regulations set out to improve coordination of health and safety matters throughout construction, from inception to completion and beyond. New duties will be imposed on clients, designers, on planning supervisors (in fact a coordinator) and on principal contractors. Whilst professionals support the Health and Safety Commission’s aims, there is great concern about the practicality of the proposed arrangements and the liability they will create. This paper sets the scene, states the Health and Safety Commission’s proposals and the Construction Industry Council’s recommendations to make them more practical and cost-effective and indicates ways in which academies might tackle interesting and relevant issues including options for change.