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Suddenly, everybody's talking about designers' responsibility for health and safety.

Following last spring's "Designer Blitz" in which the HSE tried to acquaint designers with their responsibilities under the CDM Regulations, other heavyweights are now getting in on the act. Look:

1. The Construction Industry Council (CIC) has produced 18 design guides on how to reduce hazards, and on what designers need to tell Principal Contractors to enable them to manage risks on site. They help designers tackle noise, working at height, large building components and other risky business. The design guides will be available from the new Safety in Design website, www.safetyindesign.org, which set to go live shortly.

2. CIRIA has updated its practical guidance CDM work sector guidance for designers (C604) together with two accompanying guides, Practical guidance for clients and clients' agents (C602) and Practical guidance for planning supervisors (C603). The updated reports will be available from CIRIA in mid-January. Visit www.ciria.org for more details

3. Finally, The HSE has launched a new section to its website devoted to designer issues, which can be found at: www.hse.gov.uk/construction/designers Meanwhile, studies are proving that designers are responsible for safety, too.

Researchers from Loughborough and UMIST have independently investigated 100 construction accidents, and have concluded that in 47% of incidents the permanent works designer could have prevented the incident by, for instance, specifying some form of pre-assembly. The respective figure for temporary works designers is 36%.

The researchers are quick to point out that this is not to suggest that the design decision was the direct cause of the accidents – just that there were things the designer could have done to reduce risk.