Legislation update

Revisions to the PPE Directive are well underway with the principal change being that the directive becomes a regulation. The BSIF is inviting its members to submit comments on the revised text and raise any issues that they feel need attention. Open meetings are programmed for July 2014 and members  will have the opportunity for direct discussion of the comments and issues raised and ensure that BIS representatives are fully aware of what issues the UK safety industry want addressed. 

Deregulation Bill

The Deregulation Bill was announced in the Queen’s speech in May 2013 and its aim is to reduce the burden of excessive regulation on businesses.

The Bill includes measures which will:

In May, the Bill was discussed in Parliament on topics such as extending the exemption of turban-wearing Sikhs from the legal requirement to wear a safety helmet and the removal of self-employed individuals from health and safety legislation.

The discussion on removing the self-employed from health and safety legislation took up most of the debate. One argument raised in favour of exempting the self-employed was that "the Bill will help to reduce the number of administrative hoops that self-employed people have to jump through to free them up to continue to do their jobs unhindered and be able to continue to contribute to the UK’s economic growth.”

However, arguments against the removal of the self-employed highlighted that it would only lead to confusion, as the existing legislation is clear in its purpose and outcome and with twice the number of self-employed people compared to 20 years ago, including workers in hazardous industries such as construction, the exemption of the self-employed from health and safety legislation should not be included in the Bill.

The Bill will continue its progress in the next session of Parliament, which is set to commence in June. The BSIF will continue to bring you updates on the progress of the Bill.