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CDM 2015

The CDM checklist,
regulation by
regulation.

A free CDM 2015 compliance checklist: 22 duties in plain English, each with the regulation behind it or the good practice it rests on. Tick what you have evidence for.

Published · Last reviewed

Start the checklist → Or read the explainer
Start here

What a CDM compliance
checklist has to cover.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply to every construction project in Great Britain, commercial or domestic, notifiable or not. A CDM checklist is the working list of what each duty holder has to have in place, and of the evidence that it was in place at the time. If you want the background rather than the list, read the CDM 2015 guide.

The regulations, the duty holders, the documents, and when a job is notifiable
The regulations
CDM 2015 is made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and enforced by the HSE, with L153 as the supporting guidance. It replaced CDM 2007 and covers the whole life of a project, from the client's first arrangements to the handover of the health and safety file.
The duty holders
Five roles carry duties: client, principal designer, principal contractor, designer and contractor, and workers carry duties of their own. On a small job one business frequently holds three of those roles at once, which is where most CDM checklists come apart.
The documents
Pre-construction information (Reg 4(4)). The construction phase plan, before work starts (Reg 12). The health and safety file (Reg 12). And the F10 notification to the HSE where the project is notifiable (Reg 6).
When a job is notifiable
Construction work scheduled to last longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at the same time, or to exceed 500 person days. The client gives the notice, and notification changes nobody's duties.
What this checklist covers
22 duties across three sections: 5 before anyone sets foot on site, 9 through the construction phase, 8 covering records and people. Each entry names the regulation it comes from, or says plainly where it is good practice rather than a statutory duty.
Pre-construction

Before anyone sets foot on site.

What HSE expects before construction starts. Tick what you have evidence for.

Construction phase

While the job is running.

The Principal Contractor's duties, first ground to handover. Most of the audit evidence sits here.

Paperwork & people

The records an audit asks for.

Competency, communication, documentation, RIDDOR.

A starting point for your own review, not legal advice. Always check against the CDM 2015 Regulations and HSE guidance (L153). Put your own company in the field above and the PDF carries your name instead of ours. Ticks, notes and project details stay in your browser. Nothing is sent to us.

Download

Or use it as a CDM checklist template.

Download the blank CDM 2015 compliance checklist template as a PDF. Or work through the list above on screen and save that instead, dated and carrying the project, the person who prepared it and the score out of 22. Nothing is gated: no email address to hand over, no account to create, no trial to start.

Download the CDM checklist template (PDF) PDF · 3 A4 pages · 22 duties · 71 KB · free, no sign-up
A blank template
The PDF above is three A4 pages, one per section, 22 duties. Each carries the regulation it comes from and a ruled line for the evidence, the owner and the date. Print it and fill it in on site.
Or a completed record
Work through it on screen first, and Save as PDF produces a dated record of what was in place and what was not. Your evidence notes are typed against each duty.
Your ticks stay in your browser
Ticks, notes and project details are held on this device only. Nothing is sent to us, so you can close the tab and pick the checklist up tomorrow on the same machine.
Email the gaps to yourself
Email to me opens a message listing the duties still outstanding, section by section, so the gaps reach whoever has to close them instead of sitting in a browser tab.

Worth knowing. A CDM compliance checklist filled in once, at tender or the week of an audit, is a snapshot. The evidence behind it is either generated as the job runs or reconstructed under pressure, and that is the difference between a template and a record. It is also what the health and safety module is for.

By duty holder

The same CDM checklist,
read by role.

Nobody is ever asked for all 22 at once. A client is asked about its own arrangements, a principal contractor about the construction phase, and an auditor asks whoever signed. These are the same items above, grouped by the duty holder who normally answers for them.

Client duties checklist

Pre-construction information, the appointment of the principal designer and principal contractor with time and resources behind it, and the F10 notification where the job is notifiable. Items 1, 2 and 5 of the pre-construction section: Reg 4(4), Reg 5 and Reg 6.

Principal designer duties checklist

Eliminating, reducing or controlling foreseeable risk through the design, then starting the health and safety file and keeping it current through pre-construction. Items 3 and 4 of the pre-construction section: Reg 9 and Reg 12.

Principal contractor duties checklist

The construction phase plan before work starts under Reg 12, competence under Reg 8 and RAMS under Reg 13, then inductions, worker consultation, site security, welfare and emergency procedures. All nine construction phase items, with regular site inspections as good practice on top.

Designer and contractor duties

Designers carry item 3 of the pre-construction section, Reg 9. Every contractor carries RAMS for its own activities at item 4 of the construction phase, Reg 13, and should not start until welfare and the plan are in place.

Competence and worker duties

Skills, knowledge, experience and training, evidenced per person rather than asserted. Item 3 of the construction phase and items 1 and 2 of the records section, Reg 8, plus the training records that stand behind them.

The records an audit asks for

RIDDOR reporting, the health and safety file updated and handed over, document control, the audit trail and action close-out. The eight records and people items: Reg 8, Reg 12 and RIDDOR 2013, with five entries that are good practice rather than statute.

After the checklist

You should not need
this checklist.

Some duties produce a document: the construction phase plan, the RAMS, the permits, the toolbox talks and the near miss reports. On the platform those are recorded as the job runs and retrieved by project. The evidence is already there when somebody asks for it. Assembling the file itself stays a duty holder job.

CDM questions

What people ask before
they use the checklist.

The twelve questions that come up most often around a CDM compliance checklist, answered against the regulations rather than around them.

Is CDM 2015 still in force?
Yes. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 came into force on 6 April 2015, replacing CDM 2007, and they remain the regulations in force across Great Britain. The HSE guidance that sits behind them is L153, which is free to download.
When is a construction project notifiable to the HSE?
On either of two tests. The first is work scheduled to last longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at the same time at any point. The second is work scheduled to exceed 500 person days. The client gives the notice on form F10 and the notice is displayed on site. Notification changes nobody's duties: a job that is not notifiable still needs a construction phase plan. There is more detail in the CDM 2015 guide.
Does CDM 2015 apply to domestic clients?
The regulations apply, but the client duties normally pass to somebody else. On a domestic project those duties are taken on by the contractor, or by the principal contractor where more than one contractor is involved. A written agreement can put them with the principal designer instead. The work itself is covered either way, and the checklist above still applies to whoever is holding the duty.
Does CDM apply when there is only one contractor?
Yes. CDM 2015 applies to every construction project. With a single contractor there is no requirement to appoint a principal designer or a principal contractor. The client duties, the design duties and the contractor's own duties all still apply. Welfare must be in place from day one, and a construction phase plan must exist before work starts.
Who prepares the construction phase plan?
The principal contractor where one is appointed, and the contractor where there is only one contractor. It must be drawn up before the construction phase begins and reviewed and revised as the work proceeds, under Reg 12. It should be proportionate to the job: a short document on a small one, and no less real for that.
What goes in the health and safety file?
Information anybody will need in order to carry out later construction, maintenance, cleaning, refurbishment or demolition safely. That means residual hazards, key structural principles, the services and how to isolate them, and any hazardous materials left in place. The principal designer prepares it, it is updated through the job and handed to the client at the end, under Reg 12. It is required where more than one contractor is involved.
Do enabling works count towards the 500 person days?
Yes. Construction work under CDM 2015 includes site preparation, clearance, excavation, demolition and the temporary works that go with them. Enabling works are construction work, so the days spent on them count towards both notification thresholds. Counting only the main build is a common way to arrive at a project that looks below the threshold and is not. The same applies to the period the work is scheduled to last: it runs from the first construction work on site, not from the main contractor's start on site.
What are the client's duties under CDM 2015?
Under Reg 4 the client must make suitable arrangements for managing the project and keep them under review. They must provide pre-construction information to every designer and contractor. They must make sure the principal designer and principal contractor carry out their duties. Welfare facilities must be in place before anybody starts, and a construction phase plan drawn up before the site is set up. The health and safety file must be prepared and handed over. And where the project is notifiable, they must give notice on form F10. On a domestic project those duties normally pass to the contractor or the principal contractor.
What welfare facilities does CDM Schedule 2 require?
Sanitary conveniences, washing facilities, an adequate supply of drinking water, changing rooms and lockers where the work requires people to change clothing, and facilities for rest. Schedule 2 sets out what each of those means in practice. That includes separate provision where needed, hot and cold water, and rest facilities with seating and a means of preparing food and hot drinks. Welfare must be in place from the first day anybody works on site, not once the job is up and running. Making sure it is there is a client duty.
What is the difference between the CDM file and the construction phase plan?
They are two documents with two different audiences. The construction phase plan is the live document for the people building the job: site rules, arrangements, significant risks and controls, welfare. The health and safety file, usually shortened to the CDM file, is for whoever maintains, refurbishes or eventually demolishes the finished structure. The plan finishes when the job does. The file outlives it. Both sit under Reg 12, and a CDM checklist has to account for each of them separately.
What happens if you cannot evidence a CDM duty?
CDM 2015 is enforced by the HSE. Enforcement usually begins with an improvement or a prohibition notice. Where an inspector finds a material breach, the HSE can recover the cost of its time from the duty holder. Serious failures are prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The commercial consequence normally arrives first: a contractor who cannot produce the evidence when it is asked for is the one who stops being asked to tender. This checklist is a starting point for your own review, not legal advice.
Is this CDM checklist free, and do I have to sign up?
It is free and there is nothing to sign up for. No email address, no account, no trial. Tick the 22 duties above, add evidence notes if you want them, and save the result as a PDF. Ticks, notes and project details are held in your own browser and nothing is sent to us.
Can I use it as a CDM checklist template?
Yes. There is a blank CDM checklist template as a PDF, three A4 pages, ready to print and fill in on site. Or work through the 22 duties on screen first and type the project and the person preparing it. Save as PDF then gives you a dated record of what was in place and what was not, with your evidence notes against each duty.
How does Unibuild help with the CDM file?
Unibuild holds and organises the information that goes into the file. It records the work, the reading, the result, the signature, the date and the person. It keeps that evidence retrievable, with an audit trail, attachments and photographs. And it watches expiry and due dates, and prompts. The duty stays with the duty holder. What changes is how long it takes to produce the evidence when somebody asks. More on the health and safety module.
Where does Unibuild keep the construction phase plan and the RAMS?
Against the project record, alongside the drawings, permits, toolbox talks and site diaries. The plan is stored with its title, the original filename, the person who uploaded it and the date and time. On upload it is published to the client portal and the client app automatically, rather than emailed round. When an operative accepts the RAMS for a job, the platform records who accepted, which job and when, with a signature where one is captured. You can show that a named individual accepted the version current on the day. More on RAMS, toolbox talks and documents and certificates.
What triggers an F10 notification?
Either of two tests, and the shape of them is where firms go wrong. The first is longer than 30 working days and more than 20 workers working at the same time at any one point: both halves have to be true. The second is more than 500 person days in total, on its own. A twelve-week job with six people never meets the first test but may well meet the second. The client gives the notice, before the construction phase begins, and the notice goes up on site where anybody working there can read it.
Can a principal contractor pass its duties to somebody else?
No. You can appoint people to carry out the work of a duty, and you should where you lack the skills or resources yourself. The duty itself stays with the duty holder. A principal contractor that subcontracts the writing of the construction phase plan is still the party accountable for it being suitable and being followed. The one place duties genuinely move is the domestic project, where the client's duties pass to the contractor or principal contractor by operation of the regulations rather than by agreement.
What goes in the pre-construction information?
Whatever is already in the client's possession, or is reasonably obtainable, that a designer or contractor needs in order to work safely. That covers the nature of the project and its programme, the existing structure and any drawings or surveys, and the health and safety file from any previous work. It also covers known hazards such as asbestos, contaminated ground, live services or unstable structures. It should be proportionate to the risks rather than exhaustive, and it has to reach every designer and contractor before they start, which is the part most often missed.
Further reading

Two of the duties above turn on the quality of a document rather than its existence.

  • RAMS that hold up What an inspector is actually looking for in a risk assessment and method statement, and the difference between a document that exists and one that is doing its job. 7 min read

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