Clarification On The Health And Safety Law Poster

Dave Joyce, CWU’s National Health, Safety & Environment Officer has issued a letter to all CWU branches with regard to the issue of Health & Safety Law Posters, and what the law says about them being displayed.

LTB638/12 also gives further information with regard to short HSE leaflets available that gives further information on Health and Safety law.

Dave clarifies the fact that under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations (HSIER) employers have a choice of either displaying the poster, who providing each of their employees with a copy of the approved leaflet "Health and Safety Law: What you need to know" outlining British health and safety law.

He also warns about the many suppliers of the posters and the fact that there are unofficial versions being sold at higher prices than the original:

‘Posters are available from a number of sources and suppliers. Copies of the 2009 poster purchased direct from HSE Books will be obviously be genuine. To check that each poster copy is genuine, the 2009 poster incorporates a unique, serially numbered hologram in the bottom right corner. The security hologram is to help prevent mis-selling. If an employer is in doubt about a poster purchased through another source,
they should contact HSE at busmansec@hse.gsi.gov.uk.’

There are also both Northern Ireland and Welsh Versions of the poster available from HSE. The range can be ordered on-line from HSE here  

LTB638/12 advises that the 2009 poster replaces the version which was published in April 1999. The 2009 leaflet is also available in a convenient pocket card format and replaces the leaflet published in April 1999.

It also points out a major change made to the poster in that from 1 October 2011 HSE removed the telephone number to its Infoline service as the Infoline closed on 30 September 2011 and the Incident Contact Centre will only be available for reporting major injuries and fatalities. Reporting of other statutory notifications will continue to be available through online forms .

Although a new poster does not have to be purchased or printed as a result of these changes, leaving the edition up which gives the old Infoline number visible, does risk causing confusion.

The LTB closes by giving some background detail:

‘To help avoid an unnecessary burden on businesses, the HSE Board set a five-year transition period for replacing the 1999 poster and leaflet. Therefore the 1999 poster and leaflet continue to be displayed/distributed but must be replaced with the 2009 poster or leaflet no later than 5 April 2014. However, where employers do keep the old poster, there will be a continuing duty, in the period up to April 2014, to keep the additional written information up to date. The additional information that employers have to provide in writing, either by inserting this in the appropriate boxes on the 1999 poster or by giving it to workers with the 1999 leaflet, is:

(a) The name and address of the enforcing authority; and
(b)  The address of the office of HSE's Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS) for the premises concerned.
These addresses can be obtained by accessing:
(i) The HSE website to see the type of workplaces the HSE is responsible for and those where Local Authorities have responsibility. Should HSE be the enforcing authority, addresses for HSE Local Offices are available on the HSE website.
(ii) Directgov website for a list of local authorities.’

You can download LTB638/12 (including attachments) in full here, or download each of the attachments from the
E-Library Database using the category ‘Health & Safety Legislation’ plus the keywords ‘poster’, or ‘leaflet’.

Source: CWU

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