CDM 2015 for Principal Contractors - Full Course
Fourteen modules, a 40-question exam and an AI-marked practical take you through running one invented project - an occupied office extension with a basement dig, a scaffold, a crane lift and a public footpath - from accepting the appointment to handing over the file. You draft the project's documents module by module and finish by writing part of its construction phase plan. Pass, and you can run a site as a principal contractor.
£478.80 inc VAT (£399 + VAT for business buyers) Not on sale online just now: ask us.
Who it is for
Site managers, contracts managers, project managers and directors of contracting firms who are, or are about to be, appointed principal contractor under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and have to run the construction phase themselves - from the appointment letter to the handover. It also suits health and safety advisers who support a principal contractor and the people a client relies on to check one. This is the how-to course: it goes into the regulations, the HSE guidance and the documents in depth, and you draft a real set of project documents as you go. You need only a basic idea of what CDM 2015 is; the Introductory course is not required. It covers the law in Great Britain and does not cover environmental management beyond one screen on waste.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course you can:
- Decide when you are the principal contractor - on commercial and domestic projects and when a sole contractor's job grows - accept the appointment only with evidence of the skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability it needs, and explain the separate Building Regulations principal contractor role in England.
- Test pre-construction information and designers' risk information for adequacy, challenge the gaps in writing, and run the notification and the pre-start gate so that nothing starts before the plan, the notice and the welfare are in place.
- Write a construction phase plan for a particular site: the arrangements, the site rules, the activities going on around the works and specific measures for every Schedule 3 risk, with its review built in.
- Set up the site: security and the public, Schedule 2 welfare sized to the workforce, traffic routes and vehicles, lifting, temporary electrics and the permissions needed before work starts.
- Induct, inform, supervise and consult the workforce, and appoint, brief and manage contractors through pre-start meetings, risk assessment and method statement review, directions and permits.
- Apply the Part 4 site standards and the related regulations on temporary works, demolition, excavations, services, fire and emergencies, work at height and occupational health, including asbestos.
- Monitor, review and investigate - active and reactive monitoring, RIDDOR, HSG245 investigation and plan revision - and liaise with the principal designer on design change and the health and safety file through to handover.
- Explain how HSE enforces and how the courts sentence, keep the records an inspector will ask to see, and produce a section of a construction phase plan that would stand up to that inspection.
What you leave with
- A Certificate of Achievement in your name ("CDM 2015 for Principal Contractors (Full Course) - Certificate of Achievement") once you pass the exam: a PDF with a code anyone can check on our verify page.
- May be recorded as 8 hours of structured CPD (self-declared).
- The certificate is valid for 3 years from the day you pass; your access to the course lasts as long.
- A PDF pack of the course to keep: what you learnt, templates and checklists, and your marked answers.
The modules
- CDM 2015 in one picture about 30 min
- Becoming the principal contractor - and the two hats about 28 min
- Information in: the client, the principal designer and pre-construction information about 28 min
- Notification and the pre-start gate about 28 min
- Writing the construction phase plan about 28 min
- Setting up the site about 28 min
- Inductions, site rules and information about 28 min
- Managing contractors about 28 min
- Workers: supervision, consultation and culture about 28 min
- Part 4 on the ground I: structures, demolition, excavations and services about 28 min
- Part 4 on the ground II: fire, emergencies, height and health about 28 min
- Monitoring, review and incidents about 28 min
- Design change, the principal designer and the health and safety file about 28 min
- When it goes wrong, where the law is going - and the practical about 28 min
Modules open in order. Each ends with a short check you pass to move on; retries are unlimited and you can stop and come back at any time.
The exam
41 questions, including a practical piece, in one sitting of 90 minutes. The pass mark is 80%. Retakes are immediate and free for as long as you have access to the course (3 years from your pass).
After each attempt you see your marks and written feedback; the answers themselves are not shown, so a retake is a real test.
Price and buying
£478.80 inc VAT (£399 + VAT for business buyers), one person, one course, paid once. A VAT invoice comes with every purchase; you can buy for yourself or through your company.
If you buy as a consumer you may cancel within 14 days of payment for a full refund, unless you have started the course; business purchases are not refundable. See refunds and cancellation.
Content checked against HSE guidance on 1 November 2026.
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