March 2014 Health and Safety Legal Update:
Health and Safety Law Poster
The Health and Safety Law poster was changed in 2009.
The 2009 poster replaced the version which was first published in April 1999. As well as a download, the 2009 leaflet is available in a more convenient format as a pocket card and also replaced the leaflet published in April 1999.
To help avoid an unnecessary burden on businesses, the HSE Board set a five-year transition period for replacing the 1999 poster and leaflet.
Employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations (HSIER) to display the approved poster in a prominent position in each workplace or to provide each worker with a copy of the approved leaflet (available as a free download in alternative formats) that outlines British health and safety law.
The old poster should now be removed from display and either replaced with the new poster or a selection of the appropriate HSE leaflets should be displayed by the 5th April 2014. (These should be replenished on a regular basis).
Why was the health and safety law poster changed
Research showed that the 1999 versions of the law poster and law leaflet were visually unappealing and rarely read. They were redesigned to be more readable and engaging. The poster and leaflet are available in a range of formats as part of our commitment to make health and safety information more accessible.
The 2009 poster and leaflet also reflect changes in the law to reduce the administrative cost to employers of having to provide additional written information on the poster or with the leaflet, and having to keep this information up to date.
How much do the new health and safety law products cost?
For a list of prices for the health and safety law poster and associated products please see the full range of law poster products.
Additional information on the new health and safety law poster?
Unlike the 1999 poster and leaflet, the 2009 poster and leaflet do not require the employer to provide further information in writing, either on the poster or with the leaflet, giving workers the name and address of the enforcing authority and Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS). Instead, workers are advised to go to HSE's website to find relevant addresses.
The 2009 poster does still have optional boxes where details of any worker health and safety representatives and other health and safety contacts can be added. It is not a legal requirement to include this information but it may be helpful to workers.
The HSE ACoP L143 Managing and Working with Asbestos has been published.
The updated second edition of the HSE Approved Code of Practice for managing and working with asbestos (ACoP L143) was issued in December 2013.
The first and most significant change is the title of the document, ‘Managing and Working with Asbestos’ which reflects the main drive behind the review, that being the need to simplify the Approved Codes of Practice by incorporating the two previous ACoPs L127 and first edition L143, into a single comprehensive, and easier to understand, point of reference.
Virtually every regulation section has significantly updated. The following is a useful summary of some of the Key changes.
Regulation 2 – Interpretation
The section covering Regulation 2 has been updated to provide guidance on the definitions of asbestos containing materials (ACMs) and the interpretation of commonly used terms and methodology that appear throughout the ACoP.
The interpretation of the term ‘sporadic and low intensity exposure’ has been moved to this section and, in doing so, has been changed from guidance to ACoP (from paragraph 26). This is a significant change as it is a key criteria in deciding whether certain works should be classed as requiring a licence or non-licensed (including NNLW (Notifiable Non-Licensed Work)). The section also provides guidance for deciding whether work should be classed as requiring a licence or non-licensed (Table 1).
Regulation 3 – Application of these Regulations
This Regulation has always been a key element providing, guidance and ACoP on work that is considered as exempt from the subsequent regulations that are concerned with licensing, notification, designated areas and health surveillance. The updated ACoP provides greater guidance on these exemptions including providing the fundamental reasons why work that is classed as requiring a licence is not exempt (paragraph 46).
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 included additional requirements to notify the relevant enforcing authority about certain non-licenced work where there was a degradation of the matrix of the asbestos containing material, this work has been designated the abbreviation NNLW . This section now provides guidance for defining non-licensed work, and then gives a further differentiation between non-licensed work that does not need to be notified and NNLW (See Tables 2 & 3).
This section also provides an expanded definition and guidance on the terms ‘short, non-continuous maintenance work’ (from Paragraph 61), and, ‘removal without deterioration of non-degraded asbestos materials firmly held in a matrix’ (from Paragraph 65). Short, non-continuous maintenance work has now been moved into guidance.
Regulation 4 – Duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises
One of the most significant changes in L143 version 2 is the full review of the previous ACoP L127: Managing asbestos in non-domestic premises and the incorporation of the summarised ACoP and guidance into the section about Regulation 4. The previous ACoP has been much reduced to provide Dutyholders with ACoP and guidance on the key points and requirements.
For example, the requirement for a ‘Management Plan’ is clearly defined in ACoP (paragraph 129) which clarifies any ambiguity generated by the previous ACoP, where it was referred to as both ‘written plan’ and ‘the plan’ and acknowledges the common parlance of ‘(Asbestos) Management Plan’.
The section on Regulation 4 also provides more comprehensive ACoP and guidance for making, managing and communicating the management plan (from Paragraphs 129 and 143).
Regulation 7 – Plans of Work
The requirements for what the Plan of Work should include, contain and consist has been formalised into ACoP from previous guidance, and in line with the Asbestos Liaison Group (ALG) memo 04/12 which sought to clarify the Plan of Work requirements (from Paragraph 181).
Regulation 8 – Licensing of work with asbestos
This section has been summarised as guidance to reflect that work requiring a license and the contractors that carry out the work are controlled and managed by the HSE through the licensing process via the specific terms and conditions that they set. As expected, the section provides a warning about the penalties that can be imposed for carrying out work without a license that requires one and for breaching the terms and conditions attached to a licence (Paragraph 212).
Regulation 9 – Notification of work with asbestos
This section now includes ACoP and guidance on the procedures for notifying Notifiable Non-Licenced Work, using the online notification form NNLW1 (from paragraph 220). Previously certain types of Asbestos removal did not need to be notified to the HSE, now this is not the case.
Regulation 15 – Arrangements to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies
This section has been expanded to include ACoP on the actions that should to be followed when there has been an uncontrolled release of asbestos and how to clean up after the release (from Paragraph 368).
Regulation 16 – Duty to prevent or reduce the spread of asbestos
This section has been expanded to ensure that the relevant ACoP is much clearer, easier to understand and implement. Particularly for the sub-sections covering ‘Enclosures’ (from Paragraph 384) and ‘Decontamination’ (from paragraph 400) which is the backbone for the associated HSE guidance note HSG247, ‘Asbestos: The licensed contractor guide’.
Regulation 22 – Health records and medical surveillance
This section now includes the requirements for medical examinations of employees that carry out NNLW (from Paragraphs 500 and 505).
You can download the full ACoP L143 documentation here (PDF)
L5, CoSHH AcoP guidance: Three key changes
The revised version of L5 came into effect on 2 December 2013. It contains, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 as amended, printed with accompanying new Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) and Guidance.
The full version is available by following link below:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l5.pdf
The document replaces the fifth edition, which came into force in April 2005.
The ACoP and guidance supporting regulations 7, 9, 10 and 11 has been updated to take account of regulatory changes such as the introduction of the EU Regulations for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Enforcement and Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP). It also incorporates various amendments and new regulations introduced since 2005, including the introduction of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
The main effect of the review has been to modernise the language used, update references to other legislation and remove "gold plating", ie. requirements from the ACoP which go beyond that intended by the regulations. The document has also been considerably shortened by referencing additional information and guidance on the HSE website, rather than including the detail within the document itself.
Regulation 2 - Interpretation
The section on biological agents has been expanded. Guidance has been added which was previously located under Regulation 5. This explains the type of exposure to biological agents to which the COSHH regulations apply – direct work with such agents, and incidental exposure as a result of such work, but not exposure un-related to the work activity, e.g. where one employee catches an infection from another.
There is a new section of guidance on the topic of asthmagens. Notes have been imported from the previous Appendix 3, describing the characteristics of occupational asthma.
Under the heading "Other points to consider" there is a paragraph in similar terms to the previous version that lists factors to consider when deciding if a substance is hazardous. Two additions are made to this list: nanoparticles and wet work (linked to dermatitis).
Regulation 6 - Assessment of the risk to health created by work involving substances hazardous to health
The guidance and ACoP material has been radically changed. Large amounts of guidance have been removed including those parts that went into detail about the role of safety data sheets.
Competency of assessors
As before there is a section, which considers the competency of the assessor. New guidance (in para 52) recommends that employers appointing a person to assist in the assessment or its implementation should put in place a, "formal, written specification for the work that is being planned".
New guidance has been added on the subject of biological agents in paragraphs 65 and 66. The primary purpose of this is to direct readers to other web based sources of information.
Implementation
A new paragraph of ACoP material has been added (paragraph 71). This simply describes the need to implement the findings of the risk assessment before work proceeds.
It is recommended that a prioritised action plan is produced.
Combined assessment
As before the guidance proposes that employers may choose to combine their assessment under COSHH with a risk assessment produced under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 or DSEAR 2002. A new phrase has been appended to this advice, "employers should ensure that all assessments are suitable and sufficient to comply with relevant regulations."
Regulation 7 - Prevention or control of exposure
Paragraphs 99 to 119 provide new guidance on applying the "Principles of good practice for the control of substances hazardous to health".
This is followed as before with a "Route map for adequate control". However, rather than two flow diagrams, one for experts, and one for non-experts, there is now a single route map (above). The guidance has also been re-written.
The shortened guidance on vaccines reminds employers that not all employees will take up the offer, and some may not respond to the vaccine, therefore this is an additional measure rather than the sole source of protection.
Adequate control for exposure by inhalation
Guidance on the subject of workplace exposure limits is unchanged except that one paragraph has been deleted. It had defined two broad groups of substances, which were assigned a WEL.
In addition there was guidance supplying further detail about the test process and the mechanism for achieving a good seal. The guidance now simply states, "More information about fit testing can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/respiratory-protective-equipment."