Construction phase plan

CPP

The document required by CDM 2015 for every project before work starts, setting out how health and safety will be managed during the construction phase, proportionate to the risk.

Every construction project needs a construction phase plan, however small, drawn up by the principal contractor (or the contractor where there is only one) before the construction phase begins. It records the arrangements for managing the significant health and safety risks: the project description and the people involved; the management arrangements (site rules, induction, welfare, emergency procedures, consultation, monitoring and review); the specific site risks and how they will be controlled (the ones from the pre-construction information and the ones the contractor identifies: asbestos, services, work at height, traffic, adjacent structures, fire); and the arrangements for the health and safety file. It is a live document, updated as the project changes.

The plan is proportionate. For a one-trade domestic job it is a page or two; the HSE's CDM Wizard app produces one for small jobs. For a multi-contractor commercial project it is a substantial document with appendices. The commonest failing is a generic plan copied from the last job with the site name changed; the second is a good plan that nobody on site has read. The HSE asks to see it on inspection, and its absence is a straightforward breach.

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