What does CDM stand for is Construction (Design and Management), and the regulations carrying the name are the 2015 set. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, cited below, place duties on clients, designers, principal designers, principal contractors, contractors and workers, and regulation 12 is where the construction phase plan and the health and safety file sit. For a small contractor the regulations mean a RAMS per task supplied to the principal contractor and approved against the plan, or, as sole contractor, a proportionate plan of their own. The risk assessment and method statement tool on this site prints the RAMS, free and without an account.
Design
Designers and the principal designer must design out risk where they can and pass the remaining risks forward as pre-construction information. The word is the first half of the regulations' idea. A hazard designed out never needs a control on site, which is why the regulations put design first.
Management
The principal contractor manages the construction phase under a plan; contractors work to it; workers cooperate. The second half. The plan is the principal contractor's management document; the RAMS per task is the contractor's, checked against it; the daily log is the record that the site ran as planned. The management half is where a small contractor lives.
The roles
Client, designer, principal designer, principal contractor, contractor, worker; the HSE's CDM pages, cited below, describe each. The principal roles are appointed where more than one contractor is involved.
The contractor's part
A site-specific, signed RAMS per task, consistent with the plan. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, cited below, requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, and regulation 3(6) requires an employer with five or more employees to record the significant findings and any group of employees especially at risk. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps them against the job; the tool prints them.
Questions people ask about what does cdm stand for
Is CDM only UK?
Yes; other jurisdictions have their own construction safety rules, and the US pages on this site cite OSHA's.
What replaced CDM 2007?
CDM 2015, the regulations cited below.
Is the tool free?
Yes, without an account.