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Confused about CDM!!!


Nick1c

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Having spent a good deal of time  in this section of the forums the whole CDM thing still looks like a mine field, any help will be gratefully received. 

ATM the plan is to use the same contractor for the groundworks, slab, frame and a small amount of rendering. I have organised the Windows (supply & fit) and plan to get individual contractors to do the remainder of the work. 
The issues I am aware of are:
As a domestic client in order to enable each contractor to be responsible for their own CDM they need to be employed sequentially, this has the biggest effect early on with the windows & roofing. Both will need scaffold, which will be up for the frame, but the frame company will still be there. I had hoped to include the scaffold as part of the 'supply & fit' of the frame, making it vat exempt (there will be a 10% profit on this for the contractor, but I assume he will get a better rate than me), it sounds as if I might have to organise it myself - but does that change my responsibilities? The alternative may be to do the roof through him (+10% again!), so they are responsible until the scaffold comes down. 
Once that is done I am left with the internals. The options seem to me to be either have a single M&E contractor so trades can be on site at the same time, or get them on site sequentially (slower). I am unclear about how it works with the lining between 1st & 2nd fix. 
If someone other the the people actually doing the work has to have overall responsibility do they need to be there the whole time, or are visits enough (& what constitutes an adequate frequency)?
 
Many on here have built in a similar way (since 2015) - how have you managed this & at what cost?
 
I am starting to loose the will.......
 
Cheers 
 
Nick
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I have, more than once. (I think) the main issues I remain unsure about relate to the scaffold being used by more than one contractor, even if it is sequential and what happens internally between different contractors if separately hired and also between 1st & 2nd fix. Does someone with HSE training always need to be on site?

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+1 to the above.  By doing this, and, if necessary, making it clear that you are a domestic client, so have no CDM responsibility, you're OK.  CDM was never intended to make life more difficult for a domestic client, it just so happens that some unscrupulous people who are trying to sell advice services try to make it appear that this isn't the case.  It's fair to say there was also a lot of confusion around just what it involved, and it could usefully have included specific mention of the situation with self-builders.

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23 minutes ago, PeterW said:

[...]  and let them know it’s their responsibility .... 

 

I brief everyone that comes on site (admittedly not that many people now)  : only takes a few sentences. Very simple;

  • Live services
  • First aid resources : kits and eyewash station
  • Ask if any H+S resources needed - if so give them what they need
  • Point out that Durisol dust is vicious , and the importance of eye protection
  • Tell them about the location of the local hospitals
  • Site specific hazards - nettles at the moment
  • Ask to check their vans / cars before leaving - the sodding cat is likely to be in the warmest bit of their van (dashboard)
  • point out the location of the loo and kitchen and show them where to make their own tea and coffee.

I do this for everyone arriving on site one delivery driver listened carefully and at the end of the briefing told me that it was over  a year since he had been briefed on H+S at any site. 

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On 21/06/2019 at 21:33, dpmiller said:

don't you feel responsible?

 

No.

Our build is  on a Newt - Commute - Route midway between between two ponds, 200 meters apart: in an ecological sense you could accurately describe the two ponds  as local Newt Nightclubs.

When it's warm and wet outside, and the lights turned down low, they do what comes naturally: searching for a bit of action.  Often that means traipsing through our kitchen gurning on  about ' the lack of talent round here ' . Sid, the tomcat sits and growls. I pick them up and take them to where all the action is : the hibernacular. 

Our Mitigation Strategy required us to have a refuge for them: we created three. (Meant less clearing up) 

 

They're beautiful, and we treasure them. 

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