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Free CDM construction phase plan template

Free CDM 2015 construction phase plan template (PDF-ready). Covers principal contractor duties, risk management and welfare per CDM Regulations.

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FreePDFUpdated Oct 2026

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Updated 26 Oct 2026

CDM Construction Phase Plan

CDM 2015 Regulation 12 - Principal contractor construction phase health and safety plan.

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0 of 26 checks

Project Description & Management

1Project description
2Management structure
3Duty holder contacts
4Pre-construction info

Arrangements for Managing Significant Risks

5Working at height
6Excavations
7Confined spaces
8Demolition
9Temporary works
10Lifting operations
11Hot works
12Asbestos
13Electrical safety
14Traffic management

Site Rules & Welfare

15Site rules
16Welfare facilities
17First aid

Emergency Procedures

18Fire and evacuation
19Emergency contacts
20RIDDOR reporting

Communication, Induction & Training

21Site induction
22Toolbox talks
23Consultation

Monitoring & Review

24Plan review schedule
25Site inspections
26Health and safety file

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Jarrod Milford

Jarrod Milford

Co-Founder & Commercial Director

Updated 26 October 2026
Also see:Compliance and inspections →Best inspection software →MapTrack vs SafetyCulture →

Short answer

A CDM construction phase plan sets out a project's health and safety arrangements and site rules: project description, management structure, controls for significant risks, welfare and emergency arrangements. Regulation 12 of CDM 2015 requires the principal contractor to draw it up before the construction site is set up, and to review and update it throughout the project. Monthly review is common practice.

Checked against CDM 2015 (Current revised version as at 2026-10-26 (legislation.gov.uk, no outstanding effects listed)) on by the MapTrack templates team. How we check templates

Key takeaways

  • The MapTrack CDM construction phase plan template contains 26 checks across 6 sections. Sections covered: Project Description & Management, Arrangements for Managing Significant Risks, Site Rules & Welfare, Emergency Procedures, Communication, Induction & Training, Monitoring & Review.
  • The principal contractor draws up the plan during the pre-construction phase, before the construction site is set up (CDM 2015 reg 12).
  • The client must make sure a construction phase plan is drawn up before the construction phase begins (reg 4(5)).
  • Review and update the plan throughout the project; monthly reviews plus reviews on new high-risk work or layout changes are common practice.
  • Where more than one contractor works, or is likely to, the client must appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing (reg 5(1)).

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What is a CDM construction phase plan template?

A CDM construction phase plan is a document required under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) for every construction project in Great Britain. The plan is prepared by the principal contractor before the construction phase begins and sets out the arrangements for managing health and safety during the construction work. It must describe the project, its management structure, the arrangements for controlling significant risks, site rules, welfare facilities, and the means by which the plan will be reviewed and updated as the project progresses. The construction phase plan is the principal contractor primary tool for communicating how the project will be managed safely.

CDM 2015 replaced the earlier CDM 2007 Regulations and introduced a clearer structure of duty holder roles: client, principal designer, principal contractor, designers and contractors. Regulation 12 requires the principal contractor to draw up the construction phase plan before the construction phase begins, or to ensure it is drawn up. The plan must be appropriate to the risks involved in the construction work and must be kept up to date throughout the project. For projects with only one contractor, that contractor takes on the principal contractor duties. The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) provides guidance through its CDM 2015 Guidance on Regulations (L153, Managing health and safety in construction) on what the construction phase plan should contain. Failure to have an adequate construction phase plan is a common enforcement finding and can result in improvement notices, prohibition notices or prosecution.

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Benefits of using this CDM construction phase plan template

  • Regulatory compliance: satisfy the principal contractor duty under CDM 2015 Regulation 12 to prepare a construction phase plan before the construction phase begins.
  • Structured risk management: document the arrangements for identifying, assessing and controlling significant health and safety risks throughout the construction project.
  • Clear communication: provide all contractors, workers and visitors with a single reference document setting out site rules, emergency procedures and welfare arrangements.
  • Duty holder coordination: define the project management structure, roles and responsibilities for the client, principal designer, principal contractor and other contractors.
  • Welfare provision: document the welfare facilities provided on site, including toilets, washing facilities, changing rooms, rest areas and drinking water, as required by Schedule 2 of CDM 2015.
  • Audit and enforcement readiness: a well-prepared and current construction phase plan demonstrates competence and diligence during HSE inspections and client audits.

Benefits of digitising forms in MapTrack

When you move your plans from paper to MapTrack, you get:

  • Field users can easily scan a QR code to complete a form on mobile. Unlimited users.
  • Email the right people when a form is submitted, with an automation you set up.
  • File every completed form against the asset, location or person it covers.
  • Download any completed form as a PDF, with failed answers listed at the top.
  • Fill in forms offline; they upload when the device is back online.
  • Build conditional logic (show or hide questions based on answers).
  • Take pictures or attach photos. Not possible with a paper-based form.
  • Electronic signatures.
  • Edit forms later without reprinting.
  • Set who can view, fill in or edit forms with user roles.
  • Upload a paper form (PDF, Word, Excel or a photo) and MapTrack's AI builds a digital version for you to check.
  • Email safety managers when a hazard report is submitted, with an automation you set up.
  • Keep every hazard and incident report against the site it came from, with photos.
  • Turn a hazard report into a corrective-action work order with its own review step.

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What to include in a CDM construction phase plan template

This CDM construction phase plan template covers 10 key areas:

  • Project description: project name, site address, client name, principal designer, principal contractor, project start and anticipated completion dates, brief description of the construction work.
  • Management structure: organisation chart or list showing the duty holders and their roles, including site manager, site supervisor, health and safety adviser, first aiders, fire wardens.
  • Arrangements for managing significant risks: how the principal contractor will identify, assess and control significant risks, including reference to risk assessments, method statements and SWMS.
  • Specific risk arrangements: documented controls for each significant risk, including working at height, excavations, confined spaces, asbestos, demolition, temporary works, lifting operations, hot works, electrical safety, traffic management and noise.
  • Site rules: mandatory PPE, site access and egress, working hours, smoking policy, drug and alcohol policy, housekeeping standards, visitor management, prohibited activities.
  • Emergency procedures: fire and evacuation plan, first aid arrangements, emergency contacts, nearest A&E hospital, procedures for reporting accidents and dangerous occurrences under RIDDOR.
  • Welfare facilities: description and location of toilets, washing facilities, changing rooms, rest and eating areas, drinking water provision, as required by CDM 2015 Schedule 2.
  • Communication and consultation: how health and safety information will be communicated to workers and contractors, including inductions, toolbox talks, site notice boards and consultation arrangements.
  • Monitoring and review: how the plan will be monitored, reviewed and updated as the project progresses, including frequency of reviews, triggers for update and responsibilities.
  • Pre-construction information: summary of key information provided by the client and principal designer, including existing health and safety hazards, asbestos surveys, structural condition and ground conditions.

How to use this CDM construction phase plan template

  1. Gather pre-construction information from the client and principal designer, including existing hazards, asbestos surveys, structural reports and ground condition data.: Under CDM 2015, the client must provide pre-construction information to the principal designer and principal contractor as soon as practicable. Review this information to identify existing risks that will affect the construction phase, such as asbestos-containing materials, contaminated ground, structural instability, underground services and adjacent hazards.
  2. Define the project description, management structure, duty holder roles and lines of communication.: Document the project name, site address, client, principal designer and principal contractor. Prepare an organisation chart showing the site manager, supervisors, health and safety adviser, first aiders and fire wardens. Clearly state who is responsible for each area of health and safety management and how information will flow between duty holders.
  3. Identify the significant risks for the project and document the arrangements for managing each one.: Review the project scope, method statements and risk assessments to identify the significant health and safety risks. For each risk (e.g. working at height, excavations, lifting, asbestos, temporary works), document the specific controls, responsible person and monitoring arrangements. Reference the relevant risk assessments and method statements rather than duplicating them in the plan.
  4. Set out the site rules, welfare facilities, emergency procedures and communication arrangements.: Document the mandatory site rules covering PPE, access, working hours and prohibited activities. Describe the welfare facilities provided and their locations, ensuring compliance with CDM 2015 Schedule 2. Detail the fire and evacuation plan, first aid arrangements, emergency contacts and RIDDOR reporting procedures. Describe how inductions, toolbox talks and safety information will be delivered.
  5. Issue the plan to all contractors and relevant parties before the construction phase begins, and establish a process for monitoring and review.: The construction phase plan must be in place before construction work starts. Issue the plan or relevant extracts to all contractors working on the project. Establish a review schedule, typically monthly or when significant changes occur, and assign responsibility for updating the plan. Record all reviews and updates with dates and the name of the person making the change.

In MapTrack, you can digitise safety inspections and compliance forms. Each submission is stored as a timestamped PDF against the asset record.

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How often should you complete this plan?

The construction phase plan must be prepared before the construction phase begins and must be kept up to date throughout the project. It should be reviewed at regular intervals, typically monthly, and updated whenever there is a significant change to the project scope, methodology, management structure, contractors on site or risk profile. Specific triggers for review include the introduction of new high-risk activities (such as demolition, piling or crane operations), changes to the site layout, new or amended pre-construction information from the client or principal designer, incidents or near misses that reveal gaps in the plan, and changes to emergency procedures or welfare facilities. At project completion, the plan should be reviewed one final time and filed as part of the health and safety file.

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Frequently asked questions

A CDM construction phase plan is a document required under Regulation 12 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 for every construction project in Great Britain. It is prepared by the principal contractor before construction begins and sets out the arrangements for managing health and safety during the construction phase. The plan covers the project description, management structure, arrangements for controlling significant risks, site rules, welfare facilities, emergency procedures and review arrangements. It is the principal contractor primary tool for communicating how health and safety will be managed.

The principal contractor is responsible for drawing up the construction phase plan, or ensuring it is drawn up, before the construction phase begins. On projects with only one contractor, that contractor takes on the principal contractor role and must prepare the plan. The client has a duty to ensure a construction phase plan is in place before the construction phase starts. The principal designer may provide pre-construction information and design risk information that feeds into the plan, but the principal contractor owns the document.

The plan must be completed before the construction phase begins. Work must not start until the principal contractor has prepared an adequate plan. The plan does not need to be a finished, unchanging document at this point; it should be proportionate to the current project stage and must be updated as the project progresses. However, it must address the significant risks known at the time and set out the arrangements for managing health and safety from day one of the construction phase.

Failure to have an adequate construction phase plan is a breach of CDM 2015 and can result in enforcement action by the HSE. This may include improvement notices requiring the plan to be prepared, prohibition notices stopping work until the plan is in place, or prosecution for serious or repeated failures. During HSE inspections, the construction phase plan is commonly one of the first documents requested. An absent or inadequate plan signals poor health and safety management and often leads to further scrutiny of the project.

Yes. CDM 2015 does not prescribe the format of the construction phase plan. It can be a paper document, a digital PDF, a shared online document or a record within a digital management system. The key requirement is that it is accessible to those who need it and is kept up to date. MapTrack supports digital forms and document management that can be used to maintain a live construction phase plan linked to the project, with version control and audit trails. Book a demo to see how it works.

Applicable regulatory standards

This template is a starting point. Check the current requirements that apply to your equipment, work and location. The template alone does not establish compliance.

  • The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

    Edition: Current revised version as at 2026-10-26 (legislation.gov.uk, no outstanding effects listed)

    Principal contractor draws up the plan before site set-up and keeps it reviewed; the client ensures a plan exists and appoints the principal duty holders.

    • reg 12: Construction phase plan and health and safety file duties of the principal contractor and principal designer.
    • reg 4(5): The client must ensure a construction phase plan is drawn up and the principal designer prepares a health and safety file.
    • reg 5(1): Where more than one contractor works, or is reasonably foreseeable, on a project, the client must appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing.
    • reg 12(1): During the pre-construction phase, before setting up a construction site, the principal contractor draws up a construction phase plan or arranges for one.
    • reg 12(4): Throughout the project the principal contractor makes sure the construction phase plan is appropriately reviewed, updated and revised so it stays sufficient.

    legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives)

  • The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

    Edition: Current revised version as at 2026-10-26 (legislation.gov.uk)

    Risk assessment and arrangements for planning, controlling and reviewing preventive measures, which the plan records.

    • reg 3: Employers and relevant self-employed persons must assess risks; employers with five or more employees must record significant findings and any groups especially at risk.
    • reg 5: Requires arrangements for planning, organising, controlling, monitoring and reviewing preventive and protective measures.

    legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives)

  • Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

    Edition: Current revised version as at 2026-10-26 (legislation.gov.uk)

    General duties to employees and to others affected by the work, which the plan's arrangements address.

    • s 2: General duty of employers to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees.
    • s 3: General duty of employers and the self-employed to persons other than their employees who may be affected by their work.

    legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives)

Each source was read at its publisher and the page checked on 26 October 2026. The publisher's current text is the authority.

Check the current source

CDM Construction Phase Plan Template preview

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The numbers behind this CDM construction phase plan template

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  <p style="font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.05em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#071D49;margin:0;">Free template</p>
  <p style="font-size:18px;font-weight:700;color:#071D49;margin:6px 0 0;">CDM Construction Phase Plan Template</p>
  <ul style="margin:12px 0 0;padding-left:18px;color:#374151;font-size:14px;line-height:1.6;">
    <li style="margin:4px 0;">Project description: project name, site address, client name, principal designer, principal contractor, project start and anticipated completion dates, brief description of the construction work.</li>
    <li style="margin:4px 0;">Management structure: organisation chart or list showing the duty holders and their roles, including site manager, site supervisor, health and safety adviser, first aiders, fire wardens.</li>
    <li style="margin:4px 0;">Arrangements for managing significant risks: how the principal contractor will identify, assess and control significant risks, including reference to risk assessments, method statements and SWMS.</li>
    <li style="margin:4px 0;">Specific risk arrangements: documented controls for each significant risk, including working at height, excavations, confined spaces, asbestos, demolition, temporary works, lifting operations, hot works, electrical safety, traffic management and noise.</li>
    <li style="margin:4px 0;">Site rules: mandatory PPE, site access and egress, working hours, smoking policy, drug and alcohol policy, housekeeping standards, visitor management, prohibited activities.</li>
    <li style="margin:4px 0;">Emergency procedures: fire and evacuation plan, first aid arrangements, emergency contacts, nearest A&amp;E hospital, procedures for reporting accidents and dangerous occurrences under RIDDOR.</li>
  </ul>
  <p style="font-size:13px;color:#6B7280;margin:14px 0 0;padding-top:12px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;">Free <a href="https://www.maptrack.com/templates/cdm-construction-phase-plan-template" style="color:#071D49;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;">CDM Construction Phase Plan Template</a> by MapTrack</p>
</div>

Free to reuse, including commercially. This template is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Copy it, adapt it, put it on your own site or in your own docs. All we ask is that you credit MapTrack with a link back to this page. The snippet above already includes that credit, so if you use it as-is you’re covered.

Cite this template

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The MapTrack CDM construction phase plan template contains 26 checks across 6 sections.

Short attribution
MapTrack CDM Construction Phase Plan Template, https://www.maptrack.com/templates/cdm-construction-phase-plan-template
Reference list
MapTrack. (2026). CDM Construction Phase Plan Template [Checklist template]. Retrieved from https://www.maptrack.com/templates/cdm-construction-phase-plan-template

Free to reuse with credit under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. If you’d rather link straight to it, the page is https://www.maptrack.com/templates/cdm-construction-phase-plan-template.

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