CDM 2015
Also called Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015
CDM 2015 is the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the UK regulations setting out how construction projects are planned, managed and monitored and the duties held by clients, designers, principal designers, principal contractors and contractors. Regulation 19 is the one that reaches temporary works: any buttress, temporary support or temporary structure must be of such design and installed and maintained so as to withstand any foreseeable loads which may be imposed on it, and used only for the purposes for which it was designed and installed and is maintained.
The UK position
CDM 2015 (SI 2015/51) is where crane matting actually sits in law, and regulation 19 is the reason. Its wording is not about cranes or mats at all — it covers any temporary support or temporary structure, and attaches design, installation and maintenance against foreseeable loads to it, plus use only for the purpose it was designed and installed for. A mat layout lifted and relaid by hand on a different footprint is being used for a purpose it was not designed for, which is the part of regulation 19 easiest to breach without anyone noticing.
Cited by number and title:
- The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 — full text at legislation.gov.uk
Where it matters on site
Regulation 4 puts the client at the front of it: a client must make suitable arrangements for managing a project, including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources. On a crane lift that is where the time to establish ground bearing capacity has to come from, and it is the duty most often skipped when a crane is booked before the ground is understood. Contractors carry regulation 15, which requires a contractor to plan, manage and monitor construction work carried out either by the contractor or by workers under the contractor’s control. We teach this: the CPD-accredited seminar on innovations in construction health and safety covers key aspects of CDM 2015.