Page 8 - CITS Theft Guide

CITS Guide for Theft Prevention
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2. Legislative and Regulatory Framework
Construction sites in the United Kingdom sit within a wide legislative framework. Some of this legislation
addresses security directly; other legislation addresses safety, data protection, or employment matters
but has clear implications for how a site should be secured. The following clauses are a minimum reference
point; duty holders should seek their own legal advice on how each applies to their project.
2.1. Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM Regulations)
The CDM Regulations (SI 2015/51) are the principal health and safety regulations for construction work in
Great Britain. They place duties on clients, designers, principal designers, principal contractors, and
contractors to plan, manage, and monitor construction projects so that they are carried out without
unacceptable risk to health and safety. Several of these duties bear directly on site security, including the
following.
(a) A risk-proportionate perimeter fence, free from projecting nails or sharp objects (Regulation 18(2)(b),
Part 4).
(b) Suitable signs identifying the site perimeter (Regulation 18(2)(a), Part 4).
(c) Reduction of access to the site by unauthorised persons (Regulation 13(4)(b), Part 3).
These duties are safety duties in origin, but a fence that is fit for the purpose of keeping people safe will
also, if properly specified, contribute to reducing theft; the reverse is also true, and a poorly specified
security fence can itself become a safety hazard. Security and safety planning for the perimeter should
therefore be undertaken together, not in isolation.
2.2. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
This Act places a general duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health,
safety, and welfare of employees and others who may be affected by their work activities. Because an
unsecured site can present hazards to trespassers, particularly children, and because unsecured plant can
itself be a danger if started or moved by an unauthorised person, appropriate site security measures are
a reasonably foreseeable part of an employer's general duty.
2.3. Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023
This Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023 and gives the Secretary of State a power to make secondary
legislation requiring immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to specified new
equipment, together with record-keeping by sellers, so that police can identify and return recovered
items. The Act was framed primarily around all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and quad bikes, and includes a
broader power to extend its requirements by regulation to other equipment used in agricultural or
commercial settings, including construction plant.
Following a call for evidence, the Government confirmed in October 2025 that the first tranche of
secondary legislation under the Act will focus on forensic marking and database registration of new ATVs
and specified removable GPS units, rather than extending immediately to larger construction machinery,
power tools, or a general immobiliser mandate. The Act retains the power to widen its scope in future if
this initial phase proves effective, and construction plant buyers should not assume that marking of larger
machinery is, at present, a statutory requirement — although it is already common commercial practice,
and the technical minimum-marking standards under consideration have been informed by the existing