What CDM Regulation 15 requires of the Principal Contractor, what a compliant site inspection must cover, and how to generate a digital inspection report with timestamped findings and photo evidence.
Tool outputs are for guidance and reference only. All health and safety documents must be reviewed by a competent person before use on any live project. Do not rely on AI-generated content as final CDM or H&S documentation.
Regulation 15 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 places a duty on the Principal Contractor to plan, manage, monitor and coordinate the construction phase. That duty is not discharged by issuing a Construction Phase Plan and a site induction. CDM 2015 expects the Principal Contractor to demonstrate, through documented evidence, that the health and safety of the construction phase is being actively managed throughout the project - from mobilisation to practical completion.
Regular site inspections are the primary mechanism through which a Principal Contractor demonstrates that ongoing management duty. HSE guidance on Regulation 15 is explicit: the PC must monitor the Construction Phase Plan and ensure it is being followed. In practice, that means physical inspections of site conditions combined with checks on documentation - RAMS sign-off, F10 display, welfare provision, permit-to-work systems. A verbal walkaround with no written record is not an inspection for CDM purposes.
In the event of a RIDDOR-reportable incident, an HSE fatality investigation or an enforcement notice, the first thing HSE will ask for is your inspection records. They will want to know how often inspections were carried out, who conducted them, what was found, and what corrective action was taken. If those records do not exist, or exist in an inconsistent and undated form, the enforcement position of the Principal Contractor deteriorates significantly. Documented site inspections are not administrative overhead - they are your primary legal defence.
The following checklist covers the seven areas that HSE inspectors consistently examine when conducting a CDM compliance visit to a construction site. Each group addresses a distinct area of the Regulation 15 duty - from welfare provision to documentation. A compliant inspection addresses all of them.
These are the three most common ways that otherwise competent Principal Contractors fail the CDM inspection duty - not through unsafe sites, but through inadequate process.
CDM Regulation 15 requires the Principal Contractor to manage the construction phase - which includes ensuring that the Construction Phase Plan is being implemented, that RAMS have been issued and briefed, and that the F10 notification is displayed. An inspection that walks the site without checking the paper trail demonstrates only partial compliance with the duty.
A verbal walkabout is not an inspection for CDM purposes. HSE expects a written record of who carried out the inspection, when it was carried out, what was inspected and what findings arose. Without a named inspector and a timestamp, the record has no evidential value in the event of an incident investigation or enforcement action.
Inspections that identify issues but record no closure date or responsible person are common. HSE improvement notices frequently follow inspections where findings were noted but never resolved. Every finding on an inspection record should carry a responsible person, a target close-out date and a mechanism for confirming completion.
The FitOut Insider Site Inspection tool is a digital inspection form structured around the CDM 2015 Regulation 15 duty. Each inspection is timestamped and records the name of the person conducting it. The seven inspection categories - welfare, access, working at height, excavations, fire prevention, COSHH and documentation - are all covered by default, with the ability to add site-specific items for the current phase of works.
Each finding is logged with a RAG status: Green (compliant), Amber (action required, not immediate), or Red (stop and rectify). Red findings are flagged prominently and require a responsible person and close-out date before the inspection record is finalised. Photo evidence can be attached to any finding - providing the visual record that HSE expects when a finding has been identified and actioned.
The completed inspection generates a PDF report formatted for inclusion in the CDM Health and Safety File. All findings, photographs, RAG status, responsible persons and close-out dates are included. Inspection records are stored chronologically - building a complete, dated audit trail of your Regulation 15 compliance from the first day on site to practical completion.
Photo evidence. RAG status. PDF for your CDM file.
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