New research into role of Principal Designer

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging the construction industry to get involved in important new research to develop a broader picture of the benefits and challenges of the Principal Designer (PD) role under CDM 2015 by completing an online survey.

HSE has appointed MPW R&R Ltd (an independent construction safety consultancy) to undertake this important research.

The survey is seeking the views of organisations and individuals that have experience of the PD role either by:

• being appointed as a PD;
• being appointed as one of the other CDM 2015 duty holders (Client, Designer, Principal Contractor or Contractor); or
• working on or interacting with construction projects where a PD was appointed.

The views of individuals who have experience of the PD role, regardless of project size, would be welcomed.

Survey questions will ask how the PD role is being implemented, to broaden understanding of the benefits of the role as well as the challenges of implementing it.

In addition to the industry-wide survey, the research will also be seeking the views of key stakeholder organisations via a series of personal interviews and/or written submissions. These will be analysed in conjunction with the survey results to help draw overall conclusions. Research findings will be published on HSE’s website as a Research Report, freely available to download.

The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/722855H. It should take around 30 minutes to complete and closes on Friday 5th March.