Last edited 14 Dec 2020

Dutyholders in the construction industry

1 Introduction
2 CDM
3 Other dutyholders
4 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

[edit] Introduction

In construction, a duty holder is any person who is appointed to be responsible for a specific aspect of a building or project. Their responsibility is usually to maintain an overall standard and quality that is conducive to good health and safety and quality of work. The duty holder therefore has a duty to their employers, their colleagues and ultimately the building users and passers-by.

They are key roles (whether fulfilled by individuals or organisations) that are assigned specific responsibilities at particular phases of the building life cycle.

[edit] CDM

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM Regulations) are intended to ensure that health and safety issues are properly considered during a project’s development so that the risk of harm to those who have to build, use and maintain structures is reduced.

Under the CDM 2015 regulations, there are six defined duty holders who are charged with a commitment to the control of construction health and safety risk management.

[edit] Clients

Clients must make suitable arrangements for managing a project, including making sure that:

Other dutyholders are appointed as appropriate and
Sufficient time and resources are allocated.

They must also make sure that:

Relevant information is prepared and provided to other dutyholders;
The principal designer and principal contractor carry out their duties, and
Welfare facilities are provided.

[edit] Principal designers

These are designers appointed by the client on projects involving more than one contractor. They can be an organisation or an individual with sufficient knowledge, experience and ability to carry out the role. They must:

Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the pre-construction phase of a project. This includes:

Identifying, eliminating or controlling foreseeable risks;
Ensuring designers carry out their duties, and
Prepare and provide relevant information to other dutyholders.

Also, they must liaise with the principal contractor to help in the planning, management, monitoring and coordination of the construction phase.

[edit] Designers

These are organisations or individuals who, as part of a business, prepare or modify designs for a building, product or system relating to construction work. When preparing or modifying designs, they must eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks that may arise during:

Construction and
The maintenance and use of a building once it is built.

Also, they must provide information to other members of the project team to help them fulfil their duties.

[edit] Principal contractor

These are contractors appointed by the client to coordinate the construction phase of a project where it involves more than one contractor. They must:

Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the construction phase of a project. This includes:

Liaising with the client and principal designer;
Preparing the construction phase plan PDF, and
Organising cooperation between contractors and coordinating their work.

Also, they must ensure:

Suitable site inductions are provided;
Reasonable steps are taken to prevent unauthorised access;
Workers are consulted and engaged in securing their health and safety, and
Welfare facilities are provided.

[edit] Contractors

These are contractors who carry out the actual construction work, and can be an individual or a company. They must plan, manage and monitor construction work under their control so it is carried out without risks to health and safety.

For projects involving more than one contractor, they must coordinate their activities with others in the project team – in particular, comply with directions given to them by the principal designer or principal contractor.

For single contractor projects, they must prepare a construction phase plan.

[edit] Workers

These are those working for or under the control of contractors on a construction site.

Workers must:

Be consulted about matters which affect their health, safety and welfare;
Take care of their own health and safety, and of others who might be affected by their actions;
Report anything they see which is likely to endanger either their own or others’ health and safety, and
Cooperate with their employer, fellow workers, contractors and other dutyholders.

Duty holders generally co-operate with each other, co-ordinate and share information, and work together to achieve the best possible environment for health and safety.

[edit] Domestic clients

CDM 15 also has an extra category of dutyholder, that of ‘domestic clients’. Although within the scope of CDM 2015, their client duties are transferred to the contractor or the principal contractor, depending on whether it is a single or multiple contractor project. CDM 2015 adds that in any case, the domestic client can instead choose to have a written agreement with the principal designer to carry out the client duties.

For more information see: CDM

[edit] Other dutyholders

Other individuals may be considered to be a form of dutyholder. For example:

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires that the responsible person (the person having control of the building, or a degree of control) takes reasonable steps to reduce the risk from fire and makes sure people can safely escape if there is a fire.
There is a duty of care to ensure that another party does not suffer unreasonable harm or loss can as a result of contractual obligations and/or the tort of negligence.
A duty of good faith may arise in international law.
The Localism Act 2011 placed a legal ‘duty to cooperate’ on local planning authorities.
The Building Safety Bill will introduce a number of dutyholders when it comes into force.