HSC puts off decision on safety reps law

News | HSW
01.05.2007

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has postponed a decision on whether to give safety representatives new statutory consultation rights.

Last year the HSC asked the HSE to consult employers and other stakeholders on options to increase workers' involvement, including the option of a legal requirement on employers to consult safety reps on risk assessments and a duty on employers to respond to reps'enquiries. The consultation exercise finished in September and the HSE's report on the responses admitted that 49% of employer respondents were in favour of a duty on businesses to consult on risk assessments and 72% supported a duty to respond.

But the HSE argued the cost of amending regulations far outweighed the potential benefits and recommended improving existing guidance for representatives and updating the "brown book", the Approved Code of Practice and guidance that accompanies the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977.

At a public meeting on 15 March, the commissioners agreed to the brown book revision and other non-contentious recommendations, such as encouraging local authority and HSE inspectors to promote worker involvement and "mainstreaming" worker involvement in the executive's other campaigns as it winds down its focused worker involvement initiative which started in 2005.

While it did not give up the legislative option altogether, the HSC did agree to postpone a decision on whether to grant new legal rights to safety reps until after further consultations with employers' bodies and the TUC.

A TUC spokesperson told HSW the congress will continue to press for the legislative changes most consultees supported.