The construction industry has not had a great reputation for safety over the years. Building sites continue to be dangerous places to work in the UK, with Health & Safety Executive (HSE) statistics showing that there were 35 workers fatally injured in the construction sector in 2014/15.
In 2007, the Construction (Design & Management) regulations were launched by the government to tackle the problem, as part of the Health and Safety at Work legislative programme. Abbreviated to CDM, these were primarily aimed at the industry and there was an exemption for what were referred to as domestic clients. A self builder comes under this bracket if their project is going to be a house that they will live in and, crucially, is not constructed as part of a business.