CSCS CDM Regulations Questions
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations duties.
These questions cover cdm regulations for the CITB Health, Safety and Environment (HS&E) test, the exam UK construction workers pass to get a CSCS card.
CDM Regulations: practice quiz
- 20 questions · 30 minutes · pass mark 90%
- Answers and explanations are shown at the end, with every question to review.
- A fresh 20 questions every time, drawn from all 113 in this topic's bank. Includes 2 select-two questions, as in the real test.
- About 90 seconds a question, against about 54 in the real test, so there is time to think.
10 sample CDM Regulations questions and answers
These 10 come from the 113 questions the practice quiz above draws from, written out with the correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read them through when you want to revise rather than test yourself.
1. Under CDM 2015, who is the client on a construction project?
Answer: Any person for whom a construction project is carried out
- A) Any person for whom a construction project is carried out (correct answer)
- B) The main contractor who runs the site from day to day
- C) The designer who prepares the drawings for the works
- D) Whoever pays the wages of the workers employed on the site
Why: Regulation 2(1) defines a client as any person for whom a project is carried out. The role follows who the work is being done for, not who runs the site, so a client can be a company, a public body or a private individual.
2. Under CDM 2015, what must a client do with the health and safety file when selling the structure?
Answer: Give it to the buyer and make sure they know what it is for
- A) Send a copy to the local authority building control team
- B) Keep it for 5 years and then destroy it securely on the site
- C) Return it to the principal designer for safe long term storage
- D) Give it to the buyer and make sure they know what it is for (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 4(7) says a client who disposes of their interest in the structure complies by giving the health and safety file to the person who acquires that interest and ensuring they are aware of its nature and purpose. The file follows the building.
3. Under CDM 2015, who must a person with a duty under the Regulations co-operate with?
Answer: Anyone working on the project or on an adjoining site
- A) Only the principal contractor and their site supervisors
- B) Only those who are named in the construction phase plan
- C) Anyone working on the project or on an adjoining site (correct answer)
- D) Only the people directly employed by the same firm
Why: Regulation 8(4) requires co-operation with any other person working on or in relation to a project, at the same or an adjoining construction site, so far as is needed for duties to be fulfilled. Neighbouring sites can create risks for each other.
4. Under CDM 2015, when must the principal contractor draw up the construction phase plan?
Answer: In the pre-construction phase, before the site is set up
- A) As soon as the Executive acknowledges the notification
- B) In the pre-construction phase, before the site is set up (correct answer)
- C) In the first week after the construction site is established
- D) Once the health and safety file has been fully completed
Why: Regulation 12(1) requires the principal contractor to draw up the construction phase plan, or arrange for it to be drawn up, during the pre-construction phase and before setting up a construction site. The plan has to exist before anyone starts work.
5. Under CDM 2015, what must the principal contractor do with the workers on site?
Answer: Consult them in good time on matters affecting their safety
- A) Consult them in good time on matters affecting their safety (correct answer)
- B) Ask them to sign a waiver covering the risks of the whole job
- C) Test them in writing on the site rules at induction
- D) Keep them away from the construction phase plan itself
Why: Regulation 14(b) requires the principal contractor to consult workers or their representatives in good time on matters connected with the project that may affect their health, safety or welfare, where their employer has not already consulted them.
6. According to HSE guidance, what is the easiest way to notify a construction project?
Answer: Using the electronic F10 notification form on HSE's website
- A) Posting a signed letter to the local council's planning office
- B) Telephoning the HSE incident contact centre before work starts
- C) Displaying the notice in the site office and keeping a copy there
- D) Using the electronic F10 notification form on HSE's website (correct answer)
Why: HSE L153 paragraph 50 says the easiest way to notify a project is the electronic F10 form; the particulars needed are set out in Schedule 1.
7. On a domestic project with more than one contractor, how can the principal designer take on the domestic client's duties under CDM 2015?
Answer: By a written agreement that the principal designer will carry them out
- A) By the principal contractor agreeing to it verbally at the site induction
- B) By telling HSE on the F10 notification form that the duties have moved
- C) By a written agreement that the principal designer will carry them out (correct answer)
- D) Automatically, as soon as the principal designer is appointed to the job
Why: Regulation 7(1)(c) lets the principal designer carry out a domestic client's duties only where there is a written agreement to that effect; otherwise they fall to the contractor or principal contractor.
8. A visitor will be escorted around the site at all times. What does HSE guidance say their induction needs to cover?
Answer: The main hazards they may be exposed to and the control measures
- A) The full construction phase plan, read and signed before entry
- B) The main hazards they may be exposed to and the control measures (correct answer)
- C) The same full detail as given to an unescorted visitor to the site
- D) Nothing, because escorted visitors are exempt from any induction
Why: HSE L153 paragraph 134 says inductions should be proportionate to the visit, and escorted visitors only need to know the main hazards and the control measures.
9. Under CDM 2015, how must health and safety information or instruction that a duty holder is required to give be provided?
Answer: So it is comprehensible, and as soon as is practicable
- A) So it is comprehensible, and as soon as is practicable (correct answer)
- B) In writing only, and signed by the person who receives it
- C) Verbally only, at the weekly site safety meeting held
- D) In plain English, with no translation for other speakers
Why: Regulation 8(6) requires anyone who must provide information or instruction under CDM 2015 to make it comprehensible and provide it as soon as is practicable.
10. Two separate projects share one site, each with its own principal contractor. What must the principal contractors do?
Answer: Cooperate, coordinate their work and manage the shared interfaces
- A) Agree that one project stops until the other one has fully finished
- B) Keep entirely apart and refuse to share information between them
- C) Ask HSE to appoint a single principal contractor to run both of them
- D) Cooperate, coordinate their work and manage the shared interfaces (correct answer)
Why: HSE L153 paragraph 117 says that where no single principal contractor can be in overall control, they must cooperate, coordinate their work and account for shared interfaces such as traffic routes.
What this topic covers in the CSCS test
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set out who is responsible for health and safety on a project, and at which stage. You will not be asked to quote regulation numbers, but you are expected to know the duty holders, the two key documents and which document belongs to whom. CDM applies to all construction work, including work on someone's home, and workers are duty holders in their own right.
- The duty holders: commercial and domestic clients, designers, principal designers, principal contractors, contractors and workers
- When a principal designer and principal contractor must be appointed, and by whom
- The construction phase plan: who draws it up, when, and who checks it exists
- The health and safety file: who prepares it, who updates it, who ends up with it
- Notifiable projects and the F10 notification thresholds
- Welfare, inductions and site security as principal contractor duties
- Workers' own duties to take care, cooperate, report and be consulted
Key facts worth memorising
- More than one contractor is the trigger
- Where a project involves, or is likely to involve, more than one contractor, the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing before the construction phase begins.
- Construction phase plan
- The principal contractor draws it up before the site is set up, the sole contractor does it on single contractor projects, and the client must ensure it exists before the construction phase begins.
- Health and safety file
- The principal designer prepares it and keeps it updated, passes it to the principal contractor if their own appointment ends early, and at the end of the project it goes to the client.
- F10 notification thresholds
- A project is notifiable if the construction work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point, or to exceed 500 person days.
- Who notifies and when
- A commercial client notifies HSE as soon as practicable before the construction phase begins and the notice is displayed in the site office; for a domestic client the contractor or principal contractor does it.
- Workers are duty holders
- Workers must take care of themselves and others, report anything likely to endanger anyone, cooperate with other duty holders, and be consulted on matters affecting their health, safety and welfare.
What people get wrong
The principal designer provides the welfare facilities.
Welfare comes from contractors, with the principal contractor making sure it is there throughout and the client making sure arrangements exist. The principal designer manages health and safety in the pre-construction phase.
CDM only applies to large notifiable projects.
CDM 2015 applies to all construction work. Notification is a separate threshold and telling HSE about a project neither adds nor removes anyone's duties.
The principal contractor writes the health and safety file.
The principal designer prepares it. The principal contractor supplies information for it, and only takes it over if the principal designer's appointment concludes before the project does.
CDM is paperwork for managers and has nothing to do with me.
Workers appear in HSE's own table of CDM duty holders, with duties to take care, cooperate and report, and a right to be consulted.
Answering these questions in the test
Sort the duty holders by phase and these questions become easy. The principal designer owns the pre-construction phase and the health and safety file. The principal contractor owns the construction phase and everything in it: the construction phase plan, inductions, site security, coordinating contractors and welfare. The client appoints both in writing and must satisfy itself the plan and welfare are in place before work starts. Most questions put a document or a facility with the wrong duty holder, so check the phase first.
Sources
Written from the following. Where a figure could not be verified against one of these, it has been left out rather than approximated. Our sources and methodology explains how we date and re-check them. Spotted something wrong? Report an error and we will fix it.
- hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/summary.htm
- hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/index.htm
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/4/made
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/5/made
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/6/made
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/12/made
- hse.gov.uk/forms/notification/f10.htm
Topics that come up alongside cdm regulations
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