Designers have a responsibility to implement health and safety into their designs. The Irish Safety, Health & Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 requires the appointment of a PSDP to oversee and coordinate health and safety during the design process. As PSDP, Aegis Safety Management provide support and guidance to clients in ensuring that all design team members fulfil their statutory duties as set out in the construction regulations and that the project is designed so that it can be built and maintained safely.

A summary of the duties carried out by the PSDP are as follows:

• Identify hazards arising from the design
• Ensure that the work of designers is co-ordinated to ensure safety
• Organise co-operation between designers
• Prepare a written preliminary safety and health plan
• Prepare a Safety File for the completed structure and give it to the client

In certain categories of design-build projects, such as single appointment project teams, the developer/contractor can find themselves appointed PSDP, without necessarily having the competence for the role. Regulation 11(2) of the Construction Regulations 2006 allows the PSDP to appoint a competent person as Health and Safety Co-ordinator Design Process to assist them in undertaking their duties. A co-ordinator, as envisaged by Regulation 11(2), may be necessary if the selected PSDP wishes to increase the level of competence available to them to cope with the duties under the regulations. Aegis Safety Management have acted in this role on a number of large state sponsored design-build projects , whereby ASM brought the required expertise to assist the appointed PSDP in fulfilling their duties.

The role of the CDM-C under the UK Construction Design Management Regulations 2007 is to provide the client in a construction project with a key project advisor in respect of construction health and safety risk management matters, and to ensure compliance of the design and the designers with CDM 2007.

Aegis Safety Management is one of the only health and safety consultancy firms based in Ireland with the competence to provide CDM-C services for UK and NI projects. Its principal, Michael Keyes, is an accredited Member of Institution of Construction Safety, and is included in the ICS register of competent CDM Co-ordinators (UK).

ASM have been appointed CDM-C for a large waste to energy project in the south west of England, on which the Client and design team are based in Ireland. This is the first of a number of such facilities to be constructed across the UK.

CDM Coordinators Duties

1. Advise and assist the client on what he needs to do to comply with CDM 2007.
2. Ensure that arrangements are in place for co-ordination and co-operation during the planning and preparation phase; facilitate good communication between client, designers and contractors.
3. Identify and collect the pre construction information and prepare/update a Health and Safety file.
4. Take steps to ensure that designers comply with their CDM duties and liaise with the Principal Contractor regarding ongoing design.

Aegis Safety Management has a particular understanding of the issues that need to be addressed by designers in fulfilling their statutory roles.

Design risk management is a relatively new concept for designers in construction – a situation which through unfamiliarity has sometimes led to inadequate management systems in the area of design.

ASM are aware of the various systems and tools available to designers to identify hazards and manage risk at design stage and offer consultancy in the area of Designer Safety Management Systems. For practices large or small we will review existing procedures and offer advice on the most appropriate systems for a particular practice, suited to their needs, type and the scale of their work.