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What does Nussbaumer mean to you?

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The Nussbaumer case, which has recently been decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), could have serious implications for the UK as it goes to the heart of what projects the Temporary and Mobile Construction Sites Directive actually applies to.

This Directive lays down minimum safety and health requirements for temporary or mobile construction sites across Europe. Within the UK it is implemented through the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM).

The case, from Italy, determined that where a number of contractors are present on a construction site, EU law requires that a safety coordinator be appointed and that a safety plan be drawn up where there are particular risks, whether or not planning permission is required

Currently, with the exception of Designer duties, CDM does not apply to domestic projects and is only notifiable when a project exceeds 30 construction days or 500 person days.

On domestic projects, or on projects smaller than the UK’s Notification threshold, where there is more than one contractor involved, a simple interpretation of the ECJ decision on an Italian domestic project would seem to suggest that the UK could be disciplined by the EC for not applying the Directive properly. The consequence could be the requirement to apply the CDM Regulations across the UK to all projects where there is likely to be more than one contractor on site

In this analysis, Gillian Birkby of the Association for Project Safety, covers this case and its implications and shows that the ECJ decision, which challenges the Italian application of the Directive, could in turn present the UK with a need to make significant changes.

To download this analysis click here.