Site Manager Duties Under CDM 2015: A Guide for Employers

CDM 2015 does not give duties to a “site manager”. It gives them to the contractor (regulation 15) and, where there is more than one contractor, to the principal contractor (regulation 13). If your firm holds either role, the duties are your firm's. Your site manager carries them out on your behalf, and your firm stays responsible for them.

As an employee, your site manager also has their own duty to take reasonable care for themselves and anyone affected by what they do at work, and to cooperate with you so you can meet your duties (Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 7).

For your firm's role as a whole, see our guide to principal contractor duties. Not sure which role you hold? Use our free CDM role finder.

Before work starts, and again whenever the job changes:

• The construction phase plan. Where there is more than one contractor, the principal contractor must draw up the construction phase plan, or arrange for it to be drawn up, before the site is set up, and keep it reviewed and updated throughout the project (regulation 12(1) and (4)). Where there is only one contractor, that contractor draws it up before setting up the site (regulation 15(5)). Your site manager works to it and tells you when it no longer matches the job.
• Site security and welfare. A contractor must not start work on site until reasonable steps have been taken to keep out people who should not be there, and must make sure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the welfare facilities in Schedule 2 are provided (regulation 15(10) and (11)). See our welfare facilities guide.
• Emergency arrangements. Where needed, there must be suitable arrangements for any foreseeable emergency, including evacuation, and everyone they cover must know them (regulation 30). Our free emergency plan template covers each part.
• Inductions. Every worker needs a suitable site induction before they start. Where there is more than one contractor, the principal contractor must make sure one is provided (regulation 13(4)); otherwise the contractor provides it (regulation 15(9)). HSE says it should be specific to the site and cover the risks and controls people need to know (L153, paragraph 133).
• Cards and training. Check each worker has the skills and training for their tasks (regulation 15(7)). Check CSCS cards with CSCS Smart Check: CSCS says looking at a card will not show that it is fake or has been revoked (CSCS).
• RAMS and subcontractors. Check the RAMS for the work, including each subcontractor's, before it starts. See how to review subcontractor RAMS and our guide to managing subcontractors.
• Permits. Agree which work needs a permit to work and who may issue and close one. HSE says that where hot work cannot be avoided, a formal system such as a permit to work should be used, and only people with clearly assigned authority should issue or close a permit (HSG168, paragraphs 127 and 128). For confined spaces, HSE says a permit to work is usually required where there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of serious injury in entering or working in the space (L101, paragraph 138).

• Working platforms and scaffolds. A working platform used for construction work, from which someone could fall 2 metres or more, must not be used unless it has been inspected in that position within the previous 7 days (Work at Height Regulations 2005, regulation 12). It must also be inspected after installation and after any exceptional circumstances that could have made it unsafe. Our free scaffold inspection due-date checker works out when the next one is due.
• Toolbox talks. The law does not set how often. HSE lists arrangements for briefing workers on an ongoing basis, such as toolbox talks, among the things to consider for a site induction, and says a supervisor's role may include carrying them out (L153, paragraphs 133 and 172). See how to run a toolbox talk.
• Talk to the workforce. Where there is more than one contractor, the principal contractor must consult workers in good time on matters that may affect their health, safety or welfare (regulation 14).
• Review the plan and the RAMS. Check them against the work coming up, and tell the person who owns them when something has changed.
• Welfare and expiry dates. Check the welfare facilities are still clean and working, and look at what is about to expire: cards, insurance and plant inspections.

On Business:

• Site Supervisor is a field login for whoever runs a site. They see only the sites you assign them, and can fill in the Site Diary, record inspections and corrective actions, log incidents and add photos.
• Inspections and corrective actions record each walkaround, with who is responsible for each action and when it is due, until it is closed.
• Site sign-in records on the project's Access tab show who is signed in, the attendance history and the evacuation roll-call.
• Named approvals let you name who must approve each version of a document, such as the RAMS or the construction phase plan, before it is issued, with the review history kept.

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