What is a Construction Phase Plan (CPP)?

Every construction project, regardless of its size or duration, must have a Construction Phase Plan (CPP) in place before work begins on site. This essential document outlines how health and safety will be managed throughout the construction phase of a project. It’s a legal requirement under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), and its primary purpose is to ensure that foreseeable risks are identified, controlled, and communicated to everyone involved.

What is a Construction Phase Plan?

A construction phase plan ​​outlines how health and safety will be managed throughout the construction phase of a project. It’s a legal requirement under the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), and its primary purpose is to ensure that foreseeable risks are identified, controlled, and communicated to everyone involved.

Every construction project, regardless of its size or duration, must have a Construction Phase Plan (CPP) in place before work begins on site. This essential document outlines how health and safety will be managed throughout the construction phase of a project.

As the construction industry’s leading provider of risk management services, Veriforce CHAS supports contractors in creating and submitting effective Construction Phase Plans. From templates and e-learning to expert guidance and certification, Veriforce CHAS helps you meet your legal obligations and demonstrate your commitment to safety and compliance from day one.

Key components of a Construction Phase Plan

A construction plan is only effective when it clearly outlines all critical elements. Understanding the key components of a Construction Phase Plan ensures every aspect of the project, from safety to communication, is properly managed.

Project details: Outline the project scope, timelines, location, and parties involved.

Roles and responsibilities: Clearly define who is responsible for safety, supervision, and reporting on site.

Risk assessments: Identify hazards specific to the construction phase and detail control measures.

Method statements: Provide step-by-step instructions on safely completing high-risk activities.

Emergency procedures: Include first-aid arrangements, fire safety plans, and evacuation procedures.

Communication and reporting: Establish procedures for sharing updates, incidents, and progress with all stakeholders.

Types of Construction Phase Plans

Not all construction plans are the same. Different projects require tailored Construction Phase Plans, depending on complexity, scale, and sector-specific requirements.

Standard CPP: Covers routine construction projects, focusing on general safety procedures and compliance.

Complex or High-Risk CPP: Tailored for projects with multiple contractors, heavy machinery, or significant public interaction.

Short-Term or Small-Scale CPP: Designed for minor projects, emphasising essential risk management without overcomplication.

Sector-Specific CPP: Adapted to industry-specific requirements, such as residential, commercial, or infrastructure construction projects.

The CDM Regulations 2015 provide a framework for managing risk and delineating health and safety responsibilities across construction projects. As mentioned above, key stakeholders, known as “duty holders,” include clients, designers, contractors, and workers, each with distinct responsibilities:

• Clients set up the project, define its brief, and ensure safety by providing information and resources, also notifying the HSE when required.
• Principal designers take charge of the pre-construction phase, advising on safety, gathering information, assessing risks, and coordinating with others to ensure a safe project setup.
• Principal contractors take the lead during the construction phase and coordinate safety efforts during construction, manage risks, and ensure compliance through collaboration with clients and designers.
• Designers integrate safety into their designs based on pre-construction information and communicate these considerations to the project team.
• Contractors confirm client awareness of safety duties, oversee worker safety, and maintain site security.

What information must be included in a Construction Phase Plan?

Although every plan must be tailored to the complexity and risks of the specific project, CDM 2015 requires all CPPs to cover a core set of information that enables the project team to manage foreseeable risks effectively.

Project overview

Every CPP begins with a clear explanation of the project itself. This includes the overall scope of the work, the project objectives, and the expected programme or timeline for completion. It should also identify key duty-holders, such as the client, principal contractor, designers, and subcontractors, and define their roles and responsibilities.

The overview sets the scene for the rest of the document by establishing the context in which risk must be managed. It may also include relevant site conditions, access constraints, or environmental factors that could influence how the work is planned and executed safely.

Management arrangements

This part of the plan explains how health and safety will be organised, controlled and monitored during construction. It should describe the management structure to identify who will provide supervision. This phase also outlines the communication methods that will be used to keep everyone informed, from daily briefings to formal reporting channels.

Induction and training arrangements also fall under this category, demonstrating how the contractor will verify worker competence and provide ongoing training. Welfare provision, worker engagement and mechanisms for consulting staff on safety matters are also key components, as all are required under CDM 2015.

Risk analysis and control measures

A central function of the CPP is to identify the health and safety risks associated with the planned work and outline the control measures required to manage them. This includes risks arising from working at height, moving plant, hazardous materials, structural instability, excavation, lifting operations and any other project-specific hazards.

The plan should outline the safe systems of work that will be implemented. Use this to describe how residual design risks have been addressed, and explain how site rules will be enforced. Rather than simply stating that risks exist, this section must demonstrate a structured approach to risk elimination, reduction and ongoing management.

Health and safety protocols

The CPP must also define the procedures that ensure people’s safety once work begins. This includes emergency arrangements such as evacuation plans, fire procedures, first aid provision, and the contact details of responsible persons. It should outline how incidents and near misses will be reported, investigated, and acted upon.

Monitoring arrangements must also be explained so it is clear how compliance will be checked through inspections, audits and reviews of the build. Where appropriate, this section should clarify whether permit-to-work systems will be used for higher-risk activities.

Information flow and documentation

Finally, the CPP must explain how relevant health and safety information will be managed and shared. This includes how Pre-Construction Information has been incorporated into the plan, how ongoing updates from designers or subcontractors will be captured, and how documents such as risk assessments, method statements and site rules will be communicated to the workforce.

The plan should also outline how information will be gathered for the Health and Safety File at the end of the project, ensuring future maintenance, alterations, or demolition can be carried out safely.

How to draft a Construction Phase Plan

1. Start with project information

The first section of the construction phase plan should contain information about the project and those involved. Names and contact details of important project team members should be listed, as well as an overview of the project and any key dates, such as deadlines for specific tasks, phases and the completion of the project.

2. Highlight management arrangements

The plan should also outline any management arrangements. For example, plans for keeping site management and personnel updated should be included, in addition to arrangements for ensuring cooperation between project team members, such as regular site meetings to discuss the coordination of work.

3. On-site work arrangements

You will also need to describe the specific arrangements for managing work on-site, including:

• Health and safety targets
• Site rules
• Welfare arrangements
• Site inductions
• Arrangements for consultation with workforce/briefings, etc.
• Fire and emergency arrangements.

4. Health and safety arrangements and control measures

The majority of your construction phase plan should focus on health and safety risks, as well as arrangements and control measures to keep workers, site visitors and members of the public safe from harm.

First, the plan should identify health and safety risks associated with on-site activities and take into consideration any scenarios that could increase the severity or probability of risks being realised.

Control measures and health and safety precautions should then be detailed. Arrangements for controlling health and safety risks can include:

• Hazardous substance control
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Removal of the hazard or elimination of the risk
• Use of machinery to remove or reduce risks
• The installation of physical barriers to restrict access or reduce the risk of a fall.

These are just some of the control measures you may decide to implement during your project, but the exact precautions you take will depend on your project and the activities carried out.

Related reading: What is COSHH? Hazardous substance control explained

5. Take note of Schedule 3 of the CDM Regulations 2015

Precautions and control measures should be implemented for any risk. However, Schedule 3 of the CDM Regulations 2015 requires you to include specific arrangements regarding activities that fall within one or more of the following ten types of work:

1. Work that puts workers at risk of burial under earth falls, engulfment in swampland or falling from a height where the risk is particularly aggravated by the nature of the work, processes used or the environment of the place of work or site.
2. Work that puts workers at risk from chemical or biological substances constituting a particular danger to the safety or health of workers or involving a legal requirement for health monitoring.
3. Work with ionising radiation that requires the designation of controlled or supervised areas under regulation 16 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999.
4. Work near high-voltage power lines.
5. Work exposing workers to the risk of drowning.
6. Work on wells, underground earthworks and tunnels.
7. Work is carried out by divers who have an air supply system.
8. Work carried out by workers in caissons with a compressed air atmosphere.
9. Work involving the use of explosives.
10. Work involving the assembly or dismantling of heavy prefabricated components.

While there are many risks and control measures to consider in a construction phase plan, the document must be drawn up specifically for the needs and specifics of your construction project.

It should not be a collection of risk assessments, method statements, and health and safety policies. These should be separate documents, although they can be referenced in the plan and demonstrate elements of the safety management systems in place.

Become a CHAS contractor to draft excellent Construction Phase Plans

Creating a construction phase plan isn’t just about complying with the 2015 CDM Regulations. This document also plays a critical role in helping your entire project team understand health and safety risks and work together to create a safe work site.

Veriforce CHAS can assist with creating comprehensive construction phase plans to help you achieve compliance and effectively manage project risks. As a CHAS Contractor,  you can unlock risk management materials such as electronic risk assessment and method statement templates, e-learning modules and business shield support. You’ll also have access to our industry-leading certification schemes, which can help you win more contracts and demonstrate your commitment to the highest risk management standards to our network of more than 2,500 clients.Get in touch with our advisors to learn more about becoming a CHAS Contractor. You can also fill out the form below to receive a FREE construction phase plan template by email.