Here , Alan gives his very personal take on health and safety changes in the events industry . “ We need this like a hole in the head ,” was my initial reaction to learning that the Construction , Design and Management ( CDM ) regulations - despite industry-wide reservations - had finally been applied to the exhibition and events sector . So what are these ‘ CDM regulations ’ and why did it elicit my hostile reaction ? Simply put , CDM regulations are health and safety law applicable to the building of permanent structures , like offices , factories , houses and skyscrapers . The Health and Safety Executive had decided to apply the same set of regulations to the building of temporary structures , like exhibition stands and experiential events . So in theory , an exhibition stand built in say , eight hours , now had to meet the same level of health and safety legislation as the multi-billion pound HS2 rail project or Donald Trump ’ s latest skyscraper . Luckily , common sense prevailed , and after a rear-guard action from the industry , the proposals were modified to suit the special needs of our sector . Nevertheless , these new CDM regulations are stringent , and impose a new regulatory burden and implied legal threat to exhibition design and build contractors .

And for the first time , CDM now places an obligation on the client to ensure their chosen contractor is CDM compliant . A client ’ s failure in this regard could lead to heavy fines or worse . Despite my initial reaction , I knew that this new reality could

not be ignored . We would have to comply , to protect our company , our clients and our staff from the very real legal threat that CDM represented . But as I calmed down and started to think things through , I realised that rather than being a threat , CDM was actually an

opportunity for my company Quadrant2Design . Our solution , the Prestige Events System , had always enjoyed many health and safety benefits . It ’ s lightweight and easy to build ( without tools ), requires no fork-lifts or heavy vehicles and is ‘ clean-process ’ with no paint , solvents , glues or sawdust involved . In fact , when our guys are onsite building a Prestige exhibition stand , they are probably working

in one of the safest environments within the exhibition hall , with no power tools present , no chemicals , paints or solvents , and no choking sawdust in the air . And now we were faced with the reality of CDM , could we use this as a catalyst , to not only comply with the law , but to go even further , modernising our attitude to health and safety and promoting ourselves as the most safety responsible exhibition stand contractor out there ? I found myself feeling excited by the prospect of establishing Quadrant2Design as a health and safety ‘ leader ’ in the exhibition and event industry .

But given the complexity of the CDM legislation , I knew that I was out of my depth and needed professional help . So we turned to an old friend Lee Holloway , a chartered Health and Safety Practitioner , with huge experience in the exhibition industry . Lee and his company First Procedural Limited had done extensive analysis of the CDM regulations and so was in a great position to coach us on the way forward .

‘ we have completely revolutionised our attitude and approach to Health and Safety , with a new structure , policies and procedures built around and integrated into the CDM regulations ’

Now some nine months later , we have completely revolutionised our attitude and approach to Health and Safety , with a new structure , policies and procedures built around and integrated into the CDM regulations . What ’ s more , this process has led to us realising and articulating the inherent health and safety benefits of our Prestige Events System . And so despite initially seeing the CDM regulations as a threat , we now welcome them and realise the opportunity they represent .

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