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With the Government intent on removing ALL EU retained laws from the UK's Statute Book, worker's health & safety will take a massive hit, plunging the UK into days prior to the Health & Safety At Work Act 1974 when huge losses of workers to illness and death caused by work, was commonplace. Whilst we still have a situation with regard to deaths at work which are much higher than the official figures, losing the EU Health & Safety Laws we currently have which cover such working environments as working from heights, office and confined spaces, and working outdoors, to name just a few; will mean that UK workers are the least protected from death and injury than anywhere else in Europe. Currently going through Parliament, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is aimed at removing as much of the laws from when the UK was part of the EU, as possible. Derek Maylor, a long standing member of the NW BT Unions Health & Safety Co-ord has put together a letter designed to be sent to MPs across the country which deals specifically with the issue of Working From Heights legislation which may well be one of the 4000 or so laws which protect standards and working people, which are revoked because of the view by this Tory Government that H&S laws are unnecessary barriers to business, profitability and productivity.
" We believe that there is clear and compelling evidence to retain the Work at Height Regulations (WAHR) 2005, that not doing so will cost lives and lead to life changing injures affecting individuals and families across the UK. Falls from height remain one of the common causes of workplace fatality and serious injury despite the tremendous efforts of industry organisations and trade unions over the since the WAHR legislation was enacted. The removal or lessening of this Act would have an adverse effect on workplace safety. Whilst fatalities from falls have dropped from a pre-Act 2004 figure of sixty-seven there were still twenty-nine fatalities from falls last year. Clearly the Act made the UK a safer place to work and not to assimilate these regulations into UK legislation would put workplace safety backwards causing suffering to workers and families whilst costing the UK economy millions of pounds to the NHS. The removal of the Work at Height Regulations (WAHR) 2005 (and other workplace safety legislation) has the potential to cause great harm to our members. We would therefore be grateful if you would contact the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy requesting a firm commitment from the Government that these vital Work at Height Regulations will be assimilated into UK legislation to protect the thousands of our members who work at height throughout the UK." You can download documentation on current EU based Health & Safety Law here and download the sample letter from Derek by clicking on the image above. There is also a list of H&S Legislation here The Unionsafety E-Library also contains H&S regulations and documentation which can be downloaded via this page It is also worth noting that the EU's major H&S Legislation known as the The '6 Pack' is Essential Reading and may well be lost in the bonfire of EU regulations the Government is hell bent on spending millions of pounds on doing. Unionsafety warned that this bonfire of regulations has the EU 6 Pack as it's first casualty, if the Tories get their way!
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations Amended H&S legislation applicable to the above can be found in: See also: Independent Watchdog Slams Tory Plans To Repeal EU Derived Workers’ Rights Source: Derek Maylor / Unionsafety
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A number of statutory instruments, following EU health & safety legislation, known as the "six pack" came into force.