How effective CDM management can guard against liability risk on UK renewables projects
Published on 3rd February 2026
Safety checklists from funding to finished asset should identify the client, designer, scope, liability and legal advice
Renewable energy projects move fast, involve multiple workstreams and often bring a complex cast of funders, joint venture (JV) partners, and contractors on to a single site. In that mix, it's important for parties to be clear about specific legal duties and what is required to comply with UK laws.
The Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2015 outline a number of statutory roles which apply to renewable energy settings including important dutyholder roles of client, principal designer and principal contractor. Each of those roles carry non-delegable duties to ensure that safety is managed between the parties – co-ordinating with each other – throughout the project lifecycle and that key documentation (written appointments and safety plans, which need to be passed to others) is in place as well as physical health and safety being managed effectively on site (with assurance checks being carried out at client level).
When duties are unclear in contractual documentation (including energy performance certificate (EPC) contracts), left undocumented or blurred by well intentioned “hands on” involvement (one party stepping into the role that should be fulfilled by another), parties can find themselves exposed to unexpected legal liability – including, in worst case scenarios, personal exposure for directors and criminal liability for both directors and the corporate entity.
With the above in mind, what are some of the top considerations that should be on a corporate agenda and potential checklist of actions when managing CDM duties?
Identify the CDM client
Parties should identify the CDM client and ensure that they fully understand what those duties require. No formal appointments are required to ascertain who holds the role of CDM client. Instead, whether a party will be determined to be a CDM client depends on whether they meet the CDM definition of being "any person for whom a project is carried out."
If there are two or more parties that meet this definition, it is possible to make clear, in writing, that only one will fulfil those client duties. This can be a sensible approach to avoid confusion between parties about who is responsible for fulfilling the role and associated duties as client.
In terms of duties, some of the most important are around the set-up of the safety arrangements on the project and making sure contractual documents allow for this. This includes the appointment of competent contractors (evidencing that a competency assessment has been carried out), formal written CDM appointments and having in place the means and systems to audit or monitor safety on site.
Understand designer differences
Parties need to understand the difference between a principal designer and a designer.
The principal designer role continues to be a tricky one for parties to wrap their head around. The role requires the appointed party to be a designer, who also has broad responsibilities for planning, managing and monitoring safety in the pre-construction phase of a project. Once appointed, the principal designer is integral to the effective coordination of safety in design, putting a wrapper around all the other designers on a project and having obligations around producing key documentation.
Commonly, the EPC contractor will take on both the principal designer and principal contractor roles, but the client has its own duties to ensure it is satisfied that competencies are met and that the roles of principal designer and principal contractor are being carried out properly.
Define the 'project' scope
CDM duties apply across the whole project and that means that principal designers will be responsible for planning for overall safety pre-construction, including coordination of all design on the project. The principal contractor will be responsible for safety in the construction phase – coordinating safety across the various contractors.
In practice, this can get muddled where there appear to be other parties who the EPC contractor thinks are not under their control (including in relation to grid connections or solar panel design). This needs to be thought about clearly and CDM documentation needs to reconcile the arrangements on site with the legal requirements imposed by CDM.
Apprehend safety and legal liability
In the UK, legal liability in criminal law can arise where a company has failed to ensure health and safety on a project so far as reasonably practicable, as well as where there have been specific regulatory breaches (for example, failing to have in place appropriate CDM arrangements or failing to meet those duties in practice).
Most commonly, liability risks arise when a safety incident or accident occurs. There are legal obligations to self-report in many scenarios, which will often lead to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigating and taking enforcement action. However, action can be brought without an actual accident or injury, and the HSE can and will respond to concerns being raised about risk alone – turning up for spot inspections or responding to a whistleblower.
Alongside criminal law risks, enforced by the HSE as the main UK regulator for occupational safety, there will of course be contractual liability risks and often the two go hand in hand. Following an incident or an unsafe site being identified, a client's duties under CDM will likely require it to look at its contractual powers and consider whether suspending work on site or, in the worst case, terminating arrangements will be required to meet its safety duties. This will clearly have a significant commercial impact on the project.
Ensure legal advice is in place
Increasingly, many of these renewable projects in the UK involve non-UK businesses with deep experience in the technology or practical elements of these projects, including international investors, but without extensive experience of operating in the UK.
Without UK safety personnel advising as the legally required "competent person" for safety for the company, it is easy to miss specific legal requirements (including around CDM) or to include details in contractual documentation that are different from those required in the UK or miss important requirements from UK regulations.
In the UK, there is an active safety regulator and penalties involve criminal courts who are regularly issuing seven-figure fines and, in the worst cases, prosecuting directors. To guard against this risk, it is crucial to ensure that parties and their directors understand the legal landscape in which they are operating
Osborne Clarke comment
Effective CDM governance on renewables projects is essential to ensure regulatory compliance and to guard against a variety of enforcement risks. There are material consequences to getting CDM management wrong, including intrusive HSE investigations, significant financial penalties, personal liability for directors and enduring reputational damage.
Our team advises across the project lifecycle from funding and JV structuring through EPC procurement, project delivery and construction. We regularly support clients with role‑mapping and escalation protocols, HSE‑ready documentation and coordinated incident strategies where safety, regulatory and contractual issues intersect.
Our team would be pleased to discuss any queries or deliver targeted directors' duties and health and safety training, including practical workshops on CDM, competency assessment and helping to put in place incident playbooks tailored to renewables portfolios
