The Health and Safety Executive has developed an action plan to overhaul the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations after industry consultation.
The plan takes into account comments made by the industry in response to Revitalising Health and Safety in Construction, a discussion document, published in September. This document explained how contractors could play a more active role in health and safety management.

The HSE action plan places most importance on the need for training and worker-based competence assessment. It also emphasises the need to change the industry's culture of "inertia and complacency".

Kevin Myers, HSE chief inspector for construction, said the responses to the discussion document had been helpful in telling the HSE what the industry thought about safety problems.

He said: "Many of these issues are being addressed by initiatives such as Rethinking Construction and the strategic forum."

The HSE said respondents to the discussion document had also emphasised the role of the client in the construction process.

The Construction Safety Summit, which met in February 2001, set out safety targets. It aimed to reduce deaths and major injuries 40% by 2004–05. It was attended by construction companies, unions and other interested bodies.