The next tranche of health and safety regulations to be removed has been revealed by the HSE, which has opened a consultation on the proposals.
Consultation Document 239 seeks views on the axing of one Act, 12 sets of Regulations and one Order, as well as the withdrawal of approval for one ACoP – all of which, according to the HSE, are either redundant or have been superseded by more up-to-date legislation, or they have not delivered their expected benefits.
Many of the instruments date back some years – including the Celluloid and Cinematograph Film Act 1922, the Gasholders (Record of Examinations) Order 1938 and the Shipbuilding and Ship-repairing Regulations 1960. More recent legislation suggested for the chop includes the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 and the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations 2010.
As reported by SHP last month, the Docks Regulations 1988 are also included in the proposals, despite union protests that this will remove safeguards for what remains “a deadly industry”.
This consultation is the second to be launched in the wake of Prof Ragnar Löfstedt’s review of health and safety, which recommended the revocation of several sets of legislation. The first – which proposed the removal of seven statutory instruments – closed on 12 March.
The new consultative document has been divided into six annexes and interested parties can respond to them individually. The consultation closes on 4 July and, if the proposals are accepted, the changes are likely to come into force in April 2013.
CD239 – Proposals to remove fourteen legislative measures can be viewed on the HSE website here.
Not really a rout, is it?
Dave, Chris and Twinkle-toes from Twickenham will probably herald it as a triumph for ridding business of ‘restrictive constraints’
Some are antiquated (with the exclusion of the Flixborough Regulations)
Safety Helmets (Head Protection) can easily be incorporated into the PPE regulations
I am concerned about the possible revocation of the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes though
Is this another example of over dramatising the announcement and resisting changes that have not even been detailed yet?
The H&S profession is in danger of confirming the suspicions of many who see us as jobsworths, we need to keep an open mind, at least at these early stages of consultation.
So you would rather the important legislation is removed instead?
I would presume that the ‘rubbish’ would be the first thing to be tidied up anyway – or am I missing something?
Like I said, we are in danger of becoming the very thing the media have been portraying us as all this time, many of ‘us’ on here seem to think that politics are more important than ensuring workers are safe and healthy and management systems are effective yet practical……
No not exactly a rout, more of posturing and preening by this government.
When it was announced that 50% or 75% of legislation would be cut, all of us in the H&S profession knew it would be the rubbish that would be cleared up but this will be buried as an inconvenient truth.