The Chartered Institute of Building’s (CIOB), Health, Safety & Wellbeing Advisory Panel is seeking industry perspectives on the Construction Design & Management Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015).

The regulations apply to all commercial and domestic construction projects, regardless of size or duration, to ensure all jobs are subject to safety standards that reduce risks for everyone involved in each stage a project.  

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) intended CDM 2015 to reduce bureaucracy for example by requiring fewer forms and reducing duplication. However, there is a sense of feeling across the industry that there remains room for improvements, particularly in light of how the regulations fit with new safety legislation such as the Building Safety Act 2022, which has been introduced since the CDM regulations were formed.

CIOB has launched a short survey to gather views on how the regulations are currently interpreted and enforced, and how widespread formal training on the regulations is accessed, as well as their effectiveness and what, if anything, can be improved.

Ben Powell, Chair of CIOB’s Health, Safety & Wellbeing Advisory Panel, said: “We hear that for many people, including designers, contractors and clients, the current CDM regulations are a constant source of frustration with varying degrees of understanding over who is responsible for what. There are also questions around the effectiveness of the regulations when we still see so many incidents involving falls from height for example.  

“Therefore, just over a decade on from the regulations being introduced, we think it’s important to gather some quantitative data on how they’re being interpreted and applied throughout projects, and where appropriate how they could evolve to reflect the construction landscape in 2026.”

CIOB intends to use the findings of the survey to develop recommendations for the HSE and policy makers on how and where the current CDM regulations can be improved.

The survey closes on April 30 2026, and can be found here https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/iDhcBAkPtK