If you are fitting out your office or business, having maintenance work carried out, or upgrading your workspaces, how do you know if you are complying with health and safety law? Many of us will bring contractors and other suppliers in to work on our premises and can potentially sleep walk into a situation that can put our business, colleagues and reputation at risk.

So how do you know what’s expected of you? What work is deemed as ‘construction’? And what measures must you take to protect your people and not fall foul of the law?

If you are a client for any work in your office or building, however small it may be, what should you do?

If you employ more than four people you have a legal duty to access competent health and safety advice. Ideally, you are able to gain advice prior to committing to any physical work in your premises, which will include spaces you lease and may not be the landlord for.

The key question you need to be able to answer is, ‘is this work deemed to be construction?’. This is when you may have a requirement to comply with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, more commonly referred to as CDM.

It is worth remembering that CDM applies to ‘all’ construction work. There is a need to report larger projects of a certain length to the HSE. However, it will usually apply to smaller works.

What is construction (according to CDM)?

This is not a short answer and a full list can be seen as part of the regulations at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/2. In brief, you may be surprised to learn that not all aspects are what you may typically consider to be building work. This may include*:

• Electrical work and any work that may disturb the fabric of a building.
• Fixtures and fittings attached to parts of the building.
• Running cable trays and other IT/telecoms that are attached to parts of the building and walls.
• Commission and maintenance of plant and equipment.

*Please note these are examples and not an extensive list.

What if I do think it is construction work, and we are the client?

1. Firstly, ask for advice from your competent person for health and safety. This can be someone you appoint internally or a consultancy, providing they have the right mix of qualifications, experience and knowledge.
2. Check the HSE guidance on the responsibilities of a client under CDM. https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/commercial-clients.htm

Further guidance on CDM is also available via the HSE publication L153.

3. If you are using more than one contractor at the same time, you are responsible for appointing a Principal Contractor and a Principal Designer. If you do not make these appointments, you as the client will automatically take on these roles.
4. Monitor and review the work, with the aid of your competent person/s, to ensure the responsibilities as the client under CDM continue to be met. This can include providing your designer and builder with the necessary pre-construction information, communicating throughout the project and ensuring the contractor has made arrangements for adequate welfare facilities for their workers before work has started.