Going head-to-head

The Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989, which required construction workers to wear hard hats, were revoked on Saturday 6th April as the Government moves to cut red tape and act upon the Löfstedt Review which recommended their deletion.

In response, construction union UCATT has warned that construction workers could be left without hard hats on sites. It stated that the previous law had seen the average number of construction workers dying as a result of a head injury fall from 48 to 14 in a year.

UCATT general secretary Steve Murphy said: “Construction workers are being placed in danger by the scrapping of these regulations. Many construction companies will use the scrapping of the regulations as an excuse not to provide life-saving protective equipment.”

He added: “Workers who are being placed in danger need to be told whether this is a result of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) policy, as a result of a lack of resources or because of Government intervention.”

The HSE Board insists that the change will not jeopardise site safety standards as contractors will still need to comply with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992, which have been amended so that they cover the provision and use of head protection on construction sites.

“These changes do not compromise essential health and safety protections,” the HSE commented. “The aim is to make the legislative framework simpler and clearer. HSE is taking action to raise awareness of the changes.”

Mark Johnstone, chief executive of JSP – a manufacturer of ‘above the neck’ PPE, agrees that good safety is all about keeping it simple and applying sensible risk management. He said: “In the 1980’s, a more prescriptive approach to health and safety was needed to make quick improvements in problem areas. The Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 is one example. The world has moved on a lot since 1989. Health and safety is ingrained in corporate culture and risk assessments are a routine day-to-day step. 

“The HSE since 2006 and the Government post-Löfstedt have committed to reducing duplication of health and safety laws and regulations. In this case, are hard hats going to no longer be worn on construction sites as some doom-mongers have predicted? Of course not!  Proper risk assessment will confirm in 99.999% of cases that proper head protection – to at least EN397 or in extremely hazardous situations to EN14052 – is required on a construction site. We don’t need duplication from having to ‘tick box’ an extra regulation saying ‘yes we must wear hard hats’.”