We at the Wilkins Safety Group would like to wish you all a happy, prosperous and, above all, 
a safe New Year.
In our forthcoming newsletters we shall endeavour to keep you up-to-date with legislative changes, updates and tit-bits from the world of health and safety. Like previous years we will keep it informative and relevant and not inundate you with unnecessary advertisements or sales pitches from other companies. We will keep you informed of upcoming training courses and services available from us. We will also keep you abreast of the latest HSE cases which we hope make you think about your business and what you can do to improve things.
As an organisation we look forward to working with you during this forthcoming year to assist in ensuring you and your company attains compliance with health and safety legislation, then maintaining that compliance.
Health and safety, EU exit Amendment, regulations.
After two weeks of Christmas break which, for most people I am sure was free from talks of Brexit, we are back again hearing of nothing much else on the news.
Well, seeing Brexit is very much the topic of the day I thought it might be of interest to know about the legislation due to come into effect from the day we leave – 29th March 2019?
These Regulations ensure that European Union (‘EU’)-derived health and safety protections will continue to be available in domestic law after the United Kingdom (‘UK’) has left the EU.
Background
A variety of Community measures in the field of health and safety at work have been adopted under Article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU1 including Directives. Most notably Directive 89/391/EEC2 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the health and safety of workers at work (‘the Framework Directive’). Other measures include directly acting Regulations. Domestic health and safety regulations support and implement the measures adopted by the EU.
The European Union Withdrawal Act (‘EUWA’) allows EU-derived legislation to be fixed to ensure it operates properly and effectively once the UK has left the EU. These amendments address deficiencies in health and safety legislation arising from the exit of the UK from the EU. This instrument amends provisions which will for example, become inappropriate or redundant.
Regulations
This instrument amends the relevant legislation to ensure that existing protections and regulatory frameworks are maintained and continue to work in the same way once the UK has left the EU.
These Regulations amend 11 sets of regulations and one directly acting EU Regulation.
They amend the following regulations to clarify that a reference to ‘the European Union’ only refers to provisions imposed by the European Communities up to the day of the UKs exit from the EU:
- the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995
- the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995
- the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995
- the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc.) Regulations 1996.
The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 are amended to remove a redundant reference to [European] ‘Community’; and to replace a reference to a Directive with a reference to the domestic legislation which implements that Directive.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 are amended to replace a reference to Member State with a UK body.
The Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations 2010 are amended to clarify definitions in Directive 2006/25/EC12 and to amend a definition for consistency with the domestic regime.
The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015, the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 and the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 are amended to make it clear that once the UK leaves the EU it will no longer be a Member State.
The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 are amended to remove a redundant reference to the European Union Offshore Oil and Gas Authorities Group to which the UK will no longer belong once it leaves the EU.
The Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2014 are amended to remove a redundant reference and to amend requirements to notify European Economic Area (‘EEA’) States and report to the European Union which will no longer be appropriate once the UK leaves the EU.
The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 are amended to remove requirements to provide information to and advise Member States, report and provide information to the European Commission which will no longer be appropriate once the UK leaves the EU. A new definition of “international organisation” is also inserted by these Regulations for consistency under the domestic regime.
The Regulations come into force on exit day.
If you would like any further help or support, please please contact us by phone 01458 253682, email or via our Facebook page or by Twitter.
Introducing New Services in 2019
During 2019 we aim to introduce new services to our clients, through our web site. These will include:
E-Learning
Health and Safety e-Learning is a simple way to provide training solutions to meet the training requirements of businesses large and small. With Health and Safety training as our main focus we are looking to offer Compliance & Soft Skills courses and a fully SCORM compliant LMS.
Webinars
Webinars allow large groups of participants to engage in online discussions or training events and share audio, documents or slides – even when they’re not in the same place as the meeting host or in the same room where the event or presentation is taking place. So, we are looking into the possibilities of providing Webinars on Health & Safety topics to our clients.
We stress that we are still looking at how we can develop these so keep an eye on our website and these newsletters for more information as things progress.
Are there any other services you would like to see?
Taunton & Somerset CPD Group at The Exchange House Taunton
Please remember that we now run these CPD events at the Exchange House, 12 – 14 The Crescent, Taunton TA1 4EB on a fortnightly basis
The next of the CPD events is listed below.
As previously requested, if you could let us know whether or not you can attend it would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you would like to give a talk, or know of somebody who would, please contact Jon at [email protected]
Our next Seminar will be on Wednesday 16th January 2019 Could you please arrive by 12:30pm prompt.
Our speaker for this one is Anh Nguyen of Carlisle Construction Materials will talk about The Art of waterproofing
If you haven’t already booked your place, or if you are not on the CPD Seminar mailing list but would like to be please drop Jon an email and he will deal with your request.
As per our last one if you could let Jon know whether or not you can attend within 7 days of receipt of his email, it would be greatly appreciated.
Contact Details [email protected] 07831 714199 or 01458 253682
*Early notice of 30th January meeting. Ian Hayward of SIG Design & Technology will talk about Roof Design
For more details about these and the other forthcoming CPD talks please see cpds to 13th March 2019
Training Courses
We shall be running new courses again in 2019 and the dates and details of forthcoming courses will be published here each week.
But remember we are still available for running “In House” courses and are looking to add new training courses to our list.
If you have any questions about these courses or any other training or would like us to run a particular course for you, call Jon Wilkins of the Wilkins Safety Group on 01458 253682 or email him at [email protected]