CDM training online in the UK: where to train and what employers look for

What employers look for in an online CDM certificate

Your employer, or the client appointing you, decides what CDM training you need. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 ask every duty holder to have the skills, knowledge and experience for their role, and clients must check this before appointing anyone. HSE guidance L153 explains what each duty holder must do. When an employer or client checks a certificate, they usually look for:

• Content that follows the law and HSE guidance. CDM 2015 in England, Wales and Scotland, the Northern Ireland regulations of 2016, HSE guidance L153 and the Health and Safety at Work Act.
• A clear record. The course name, hours of learning and completion date.
• The essentials every duty holder needs. Who the duty holders are and what each must do, when a principal designer and principal contractor must be appointed, when a project must be notified to the HSE, pre-construction information, the construction phase plan, the health and safety file, designing out risk and site welfare.
• A refresh date. Guidance and roles change, so a refresh date matters.

Lift College's certificate records CDM Regulations Training, 2 hours of learning, your completion date and a recommended refresh date 3 years on. Training is one part of competence. For principal designers, principal contractors and site managers, the client will also look at your qualifications and your experience in the work itself, which no online course replaces.

What the Lift College course covers

There are 5 short modules, each with a knowledge check, then a final test with an 80% pass mark and unlimited free retakes.

1. What CDM 2015 is and when it applies. Why the regulations exist, how CDM 2015 replaced the 2007 regulations, what counts as construction work, including maintenance, refurbishment and demolition, and how the regulations apply to domestic projects. When a project must be notified to the HSE.
2. The duty holders and their duties. Clients and domestic clients, principal designers, principal contractors, designers, contractors and workers. What each must do, how duties pass to the contractor or designer on a domestic project, and when a principal designer and principal contractor must be appointed because more than one contractor will work on the project.
3. Planning a safe project. Pre-construction information the client must provide, surveys and existing records, the construction phase plan every project needs before work starts, and the health and safety file handed over at the end for future work on the structure.
4. Design and risk. The general principles of prevention, how designers eliminate hazards and reduce the risks that remain, designing for safe construction, cleaning, maintenance and demolition, and how design information is passed to the principal designer and contractors.
5. Safe sites and enforcement. Welfare facilities, site security and access, induction, information and training for workers, consulting the workforce, cooperation between duty holders, and what happens when CDM is breached: HSE inspections, improvement and prohibition notices, fee for intervention and prosecution.

By the end you can explain what CDM 2015 covers and the work it applies to, identify each duty holder on a project and what they must do, recognise when a project must be notified to the HSE, describe what pre-construction information, the construction phase plan and the health and safety file contain and who prepares each, explain how designers reduce risk, and identify the welfare, access and management standards a site must meet.

The law and guidance it is written around

• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (England, Wales and Scotland). Applies to all construction work, from a small domestic job to a major project. Clients, designers and contractors must plan, manage and coordinate health and safety, and a principal designer and principal contractor must be appointed when more than one contractor works on the project. Northern Ireland has its own Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, which impose the same duties.
• HSE L153: Managing health and safety in construction (Great Britain). The HSE's guidance on CDM 2015, with the regulations printed alongside. It explains what each duty holder must do and what pre-construction information, the construction phase plan and the health and safety file should contain. The course is structured around it.
• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (England, Wales and Scotland). Employers must provide the information, instruction, training and supervision needed to keep employees safe, so far as is reasonably practicable, and breaches of CDM 2015 are prosecuted under this Act. Northern Ireland has the same duty in the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.
• HSE construction and CDM 2015 guidance pages (Great Britain). The HSE's plain language pages for each duty holder, with the online F10 form for notifying a project and summaries for clients, designers and contractors.

How Lift College compares with other UK providers

Details below are as each provider shows them on its own course page, checked 27 October 2026. "Check provider" means the page did not state it.

With Lift College, £19.99 is the full price for one learner, pay once with no subscription, and the refresher is free when your recommended refresh date arrives. Retakes of the final test are free and unlimited.

Who it suits

CDM Regulations Training is for anyone who commissions, designs, plans or manages construction work in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is for you if:

• you commission building, refurbishment or maintenance work as a client, landlord, facilities or estates manager
• you are an architect, engineer, surveyor or other designer whose decisions shape how work is built
• you run a contracting business or manage a site as a principal contractor or contractor
• you have been named principal designer or asked to prepare a construction phase plan or health and safety file
• you want to understand what the HSE expects of a well planned, well managed construction project

For assessing the risks on a job, see our risk assessment guide. For work on ladders, scaffolds and roofs, see our working at height guide, and for refurbishment and demolition in older buildings our asbestos awareness guide. See every course on the health and safety courses page or browse all Lift College CPD courses. Buying for a team? Open a free organisation account: every course is £16.99, and you can pay by card or invoice with your PO.

Enrol on CDM Regulations Training for £19.99 and start the moment you pay, on any device. Ask within 14 days of paying and we refund you in full.