CDM Regulations: 12 year of pain but little gain

摘要

One of the author's conclusions, 'Site safety is primarily the contractor's responsibility', takes us back close to the situation prevailing up to about 20 years ago, when all responsibility for site safety was heaped upon the contractor, irrespective of the constraints applied by the designer and client, and even enshrined in some conditions of contract. This injustice was recognised in some milestone court cases, where designers and clients were convicted and heavily fined as a result of fatalities on construction sites, and the industry has moved on now to share the responsibility for managing health and safety risk.