1.4 CDM Regulations 2024: Duty Holders, Notification, Plans and Site Requirements
Key Takeaways
CDM 2024 was made under section 66 of OSHA 1994, was gazetted on 31 May 2024 and came into force on 1 June 2024; it applies to every place of work where a construction project is carried out.
Under regulation 7, where more than one contractor will work on a project the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing, as early as practicable before the construction phase.
Under regulation 8 the client must notify the DOSH Director General in writing before the construction phase if work is scheduled to last more than 30 working days or more than 500 person-days.
Under regulation 13 the principal contractor draws up a construction phase plan before the site is set up and keeps it reviewed and updated throughout the project.
Under regulation 24, excavation supports must be inspected by a designated person at the start of every shift, after any event affecting stability, and after any accidental fall of material.
Why CDM 2024 is the centre of the legislation topic
NIOSH Part 2(D), CDM Regulations, gets two and a half hours of class time, and P.U.(A) 147/2024 is one of the five reference documents on the current SSS course curriculum. CDM 2024 is the instrument that requires your appointment (regulation 39). It also contains most of the construction-specific rules that BOWEC used to hold: safe access, good order and site security, structural stability, demolition, excavations, cofferdams, traffic routes, vehicles, emergency arrangements, fire fighting, fresh air, weather protection and lighting.
CDM 2024 grew out of DOSH's voluntary Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry (Management) (OSHCIM) 2017. It makes clients and designers legally responsible for safety, not just contractors. That matters because a large share of construction risk is fixed at the design and planning stage, before any contractor arrives on site.
The official gazette text is in Bahasa Malaysia. The English terms below are working translations used in training: klien (client), pereka bentuk (designer), pereka bentuk prinsipal (principal designer), kontraktor prinsipal (principal contractor), pelan fasa pembinaan (construction phase plan) and fail keselamatan dan kesihatan (health and safety file).
Structure of the Regulations
| Part | Regulations | Content |
|---|---|---|
| I Preliminary | 1–3 | Citation and commencement (1 June 2024), application to all project workplaces, definitions |
| II Client duties | 4–9 | Project management arrangements, pre-construction information, appointments, notification, domestic clients |
| III Duties and roles | 10–17 | General competence duties, designers, principal designer, construction phase plan, health and safety file, principal contractor, worker engagement, contractors |
| IV General requirements for all construction sites | 18–37 | Physical site standards |
| V Miscellaneous | 38–39 | Safety and health assistants; site safety supervisor |
| Schedules | First to Fourth | General principles of prevention; minimum welfare facilities; notification particulars; work involving particular risks |
Key definitions (regulation 3)
- Construction work means construction of any building or civil or engineering works. It includes alteration, renovation, repair, maintenance (including cleaning with high-pressure water or corrosive or toxic substances), demolition and dismantling. It also covers site clearance, exploration, investigation and excavation; assembly or disassembly of prefabricated elements; removal of structures or waste; and installation and maintenance of mechanical, electrical, gas, compressed air, hydraulic, telecommunications and similar services. Mineral exploration and extraction are excluded.
- Designated person (orang ditetapkan) means a person who has completed an OSH training course and has sufficient training, experience or knowledge of the work, as required under section 31A of the Act. CDM uses this term for people who inspect excavations and cofferdams.
- Excavation includes any earthwork, trench, well, shaft, tunnel or underground working.
- General principles of prevention are the nine principles in the First Schedule (Section 2.3).
Who does what
Client (regulations 4 to 9)
- Regulation 4: make suitable arrangements for managing the project. This means sufficient time, funds and other resources; work that can be done, so far as practicable, without risk to anyone affected; and the welfare facilities in the Second Schedule. The arrangements must be kept up and reviewed. Maximum penalty: RM500,000 or one year or both.
- Regulation 5: provide pre-construction information to designers and contractors. Ensure a construction phase plan exists before construction starts and that the principal designer prepares a health and safety file.
- Regulation 7: where more than one contractor is, or will be, involved, appoint in writing a principal designer and a principal contractor, as soon as practicable before the construction phase. If the client fails to do so, the client must carry out those duties itself.
- Regulation 8: notify the Director General in writing before the construction phase where work is scheduled to last more than 30 working days or more than 500 person-days. The notice contains the 15 particulars in the Third Schedule, such as the site address, the duty holders, the planned dates and the estimated maximum workforce. It must be displayed on site and kept up to date. Maximum penalty: RM100,000 or one year or both.
- Regulation 9: a domestic client, someone having work done that is not part of a business, passes its duties to the contractor, principal contractor or principal designer.
Note
DOSH's June 2024 guidance said the old BOWEC notification form (JKJ 103) is no longer required. Construction project notification under regulation 8 is made by the client using DOSH's JKKP 12 notification.
General competence duty (regulation 10)
Designers and contractors must have the skills, knowledge and experience, and organisations the organisational capability, to fulfil their role safely. They must not accept an appointment unless they meet that standard, and whoever appoints them must take reasonable steps to check it. Everyone must cooperate, report anything likely to endanger health and safety, and give complete information promptly.
Designers and principal designer (regulations 11, 12 and 14)
- Designers apply the general principles of prevention to eliminate risk so far as practicable. Where a risk cannot be eliminated, they reduce or control it and pass the information on.
- The principal designer plans, manages and monitors the pre-construction phase, coordinates designers and helps the client with pre-construction information.
- The principal designer prepares and updates the health and safety file (regulation 14). The principal contractor feeds information into it. At the end of the project it is handed to the client, so that future maintenance or demolition workers know the risks.
Principal contractor (regulations 13, 15, 16 and 39)
- Regulation 13, construction phase plan: drawn up during the pre-construction phase, before the site is set up. It sets out the health and safety arrangements and site rules, and includes specific measures for any Fourth Schedule work. It is reviewed, updated and revised throughout the project. The Fourth Schedule covers:
- risk of burial, sinking or falls from height
- chemical or biological agents
- ionising radiation
- work near high-voltage power lines
- risk of drowning
- wells, underground earthworks and tunnels
- diving
- compressed-air caissons
- explosives
- assembling or dismantling heavy prefabricated components
- Regulation 15, construction phase: plan, manage and monitor the construction phase applying the general principles of prevention. Organise cooperation between contractors and coordinate their compliance. Ensure Part IV and the plan are followed. Ensure a suitable site induction is given, unauthorised access is prevented and welfare facilities are provided.
- Regulation 16, engaging with workers: consult workers or their representatives, and let them inspect and copy relevant safety information.
- Regulation 39: appoint a competent Site Safety Supervisor.
Contractors (regulation 17)
Each contractor must:
- plan, manage and monitor its own work
- follow the principal designer's and principal contractor's directions and the relevant parts of the construction phase plan
- employ only people who have, or are acquiring, the necessary skills, knowledge, training and experience
- give its workers supervision, instruction and information, including an induction, the procedure for serious and imminent danger, and the risks identified by the section 18B risk assessment
- prevent unauthorised access before starting work
- provide welfare facilities for its own workers
On a single-contractor project, that contractor also drafts the construction phase plan.
Part IV: what the SSS checks on site
| Reg. | Requirement (summary of the Malay text) |
|---|---|
| 19 | Safe and adequate access and egress; site kept safe; every floor opening with a fall risk suitably guarded; enough working space |
| 20 | Good order and reasonable cleanliness; perimeter identified and fenced where risk requires; no projecting nails in timber or other materials |
| 21 | Stability: temporary supports and structures designed, installed and maintained for foreseeable loads and used only as designed; no overloading |
| 22 | Demolition or dismantling planned and carried out to prevent danger; arrangements recorded in writing before work begins |
| 23 | Explosives stored, transported and used safely; firing only when no one is exposed to the blast or flying material |
| 24 | Excavations must not collapse, dislodge material, bury people or have people, plant or material fall in or overload their sides. Where supports are used, a designated person inspects at the start of each shift, after any event affecting stability and after any accidental fall of material |
| 25 | Cofferdams and caissons: suitable design, means of refuge and escape, maintenance, and the same inspection rule |
| 26 | Inspection reports: if work is unsafe, the designated person informs the person for whom the inspection was done before the end of the shift and gives a written report within 24 hours; reports are kept on site until completion and for three months after |
| 27 | Energy distribution: installations located, checked and marked; overhead lines diverted, or isolated and earthed, or barriers and warning notices provided; no work near underground services until risks are controlled |
| 28 | Drowning: prevent falls into water, rescue equipment, safe and not overloaded transport by water |
| 29 | Traffic routes: organised so people and vehicles move without risk; pedestrian separation; signed, inspected and kept clear |
| 30 | Vehicles: prevent unintended movement, give warnings, no riding except in safe places, prevent vehicles falling into excavations or water |
| 31–34 | Fire, flooding and asphyxiation; emergency procedures that are tested at suitable intervals; signed emergency routes kept clear; fire detection and fire-fighting equipment maintained, with workers instructed in its use |
| 35–37 | Fresh air, including a failure alarm on ventilation plant; reasonable temperature and weather protection; adequate lighting with secondary lighting where needed |
Most Part IV offences carry fines of up to RM500,000 or one year or both.
Scenario: a small renovation that still needs CDM
A company hires two contractors to convert a shophouse into a clinic over 45 working days. It is not a domestic client, and more than one contractor is involved. The client must:
- appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing
- notify DOSH, because the work runs more than 30 working days
- make sure a construction phase plan exists before work starts
The principal contractor must appoint a registered SSS. Because the strip-out includes asbestos-cement ceiling boards, a Fourth Schedule chemical risk, the plan must include specific control measures. The demolition arrangements must be written down before work begins (regulation 22).
A developer engages three contractors for a 60-working-day office fit-out. Under CDM 2024, which duty falls on the developer as client?
Appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing, and notify the Director General
Appoint the Site Safety Supervisor directly, and pay the SSS's DOSH registration and annual renewal fees
Prepare the construction phase plan personally, and submit it to CIDB for approval before work starts
Carry out the excavation inspections required at the start of each shift
Under regulation 13 of CDM 2024, when must the principal contractor first draw up the construction phase plan?
Within 7 days after the first worker arrives on the construction site
During the pre-construction phase, before the site is set up
Only after DOSH has formally approved the client's project notification
At handover, together with the health and safety file
A designated person inspecting a supported trench finds the shoring damaged and decides work cannot continue safely. What does regulation 26 of CDM 2024 require?
Record the defect in the site diary, and review it at the next monthly safety and health committee meeting
Inform the DOSH state office within 7 days using the NADOPOD form
Inform the person the inspection was done for before the shift ends, and report in writing within 24 hours
Repair the shoring personally and allow work to resume immediately
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.