Framework of health and safety law

The CDM Regulations are a small part of a very much larger legal framework of law in the UK and the European Union (EU) that addresses matters of health and safety.

The CDM Regulations, except for some amendments to associated legislation referred to in regulation 38 and set out in Schedule 5, do not change the general principles of health and safety law. They are, however, a comprehensive implementation of the EU's Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites Directive (see Appendix 3) and a continuing development of the widely accepted need to influence and regulate management practices to improve health and safety in the construction industry.