How do RIDDOR Changes Affect You?

Changes come into force in April 2012 that affect your responsibilities to formally report Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences.  We reported in February 2011 on the government's intention to introduce these changes.

Existing Requirements

Briefly, employers have a duty to report to the Health and Safety Executive any of the following work related occurrences:

• Fatalities
• Serious Injuries
• Diagnosed Industrial Diseases
• Certain Near Misses (Dangerous Occurrences)

Read the rest of this article to understand the changes that are to be introduced in April.

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HSE - Fees for Intervention

We now know what the HSE intends to do in regard to charging for its services.

In addition to simply cutting their own costs, the stated aims of the HSE are:

To make those organisations pay who breach health and safety law and to provide a more level playing field so that those who flout the law have less of a competitive edge on more responsible organisations.

The net result will be that those who are found to be in breach of the law will have additional costs to pay over and above any fines that might be imposed by the courts -

- And those additional costs could be substantial.

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Cost Hike for Health + Safety

In March 2011, the Department for Work and Pensions published their latest plans on the reform of Health and Safety in Britain.

In their report entitled "Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone" they stated their intention to introduce provisions that would recover the costs for breaches of health and safety law. These provisions are now expected to come into force as early as April next year.

The actual recovery of costs is not up for debate. However, the systems for implementing cost recovery are currently the subject of consultation and you can have your say.

Read on for the full story of how these costs might impact you and how you can make your views known:

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Health and Safety for Royal Wedding

It seems incredible that when we are looking forward to an event that is of world-wide interest – we're referring to the Royal Wedding of course – that a government department finds it necessary to warn officials not to use Health and Safety as an excuse for suppressing celebrations.

Not everybody, of course, is in favour of royalty but even the most ardent anti-royalist would prefer to make their case on the basis of facts, and reasoned argument rather than seek to disrupt the event by calling on regulations that are designed to save lives in the workplace rather than constrain national celebrations.
Nevertheless, the Health and Safety Executive felt it necessary to issue a press release advising how to respond to officials who attempt to cite Health and Safety as a reason for constraining celebrations of the royal wedding.

This is another attempt by the HSE and the government to re-focus attention on the true reason for, and the genuine benefits from Health and Safety legislation. It is another step in the government's campaign, which began with the publication of Lord Young's report in October 2010, to free health and safety from the unhealthy and unhelpful reputation that has developed in recent years.

Chris Grayling - Minister for Health and Safety – is quoted as saying:
"The Royal Wedding will be a great national occasion, and I want to reassure everyone that they can have street parties with friends and family and bring out the bunting to celebrate in time-honoured British tradition. There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to ban these celebrations on the grounds of health and safety."

The overall message, therefore is to use common sense, take care and thoroughly enjoy the occasion,

Read the HSE Press Release

Ongoing Review of Health and Safety

Before last year's general election, David Cameron had much to say about Health and Safety in UK workplaces. This was largely in response to stories appearing in the media regarding some of the more bizarre ways in which organisations have chosen to implement Health and Safety requirements.

• Unfortunately some people have used Health and Safety as a convenient excuse for cancelling events or banning activities that, pose little or no significant risks.
• In other cases, sections of the media have picked up and perpetuated myths simply because they make good reading.
• There are also cases where people have acted in good faith but their decisions have been based on inadequate understanding of Health and Safety regulations or on flawed information from advisers who lacked appropriate qualifications, experience and professionalism.
• And then there are cases where Health and Safety legislation could be expressed in terms that are easier for everyone to understand and act upon.

For all of these reasons, the government has embarked on a major review of the whole area of Health and Safety, starting last year with the publication of Lord Young's report and continuing with the next stage of the review process that was announced earlier this month.
Read on to learn more about this latest initiative and for an opportunity to express your own views on the review and Health and Safety in general.

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Working Safely at Height

It is almost six years since we published an article about working at height (see previous article). The sad fact is that it still accounts for a large number of fatalities and serious injuries in the workplace.

When we last wrote about this topic, the regulations had just been changed to consolidate previous legislation and during the intervening time there have been further extensions of the regulations to cover situations such as recreational activities like caving or rock climbing.

Whilst much work at height is associated with the Construction industry, it is not exclusively so. A few obvious examples of other industries are Telecommunications, Power, Engineering and Freight, to name but a few.

If you are responsible for other people working at height or you are self-employed, you need to be aware of your legal duties that are designed to ensure the safest practicable working environment.

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Using Lifting Equipment Safely

One means of reducing the risks associated with manual handling operations is to introduce lifting equipment. However, lifting equipment introduces its own risks that must be properly managed.

There are very specific legal requirements that apply to lifting equipment that is supplied or used in the workplace and these are embodied in the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) that were introduced in the UK in 1998.

If you make extensive use of lifting equipment you are probably well aware of the requirements of LOLER. However, if you only use lifting equipment very occasionally then you may need to familiarise yourself with what the law requires of you.
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