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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
1996 No. 1513
HEALTH AND SAFETY
The Health and Safety (Consultation with
Employees) Regulations 1996
| Laid before Parliament |
1st July 1996 |
| Coming into force |
1st October 1996 |
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated[1]
for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act
1972[2]
in relation to measures relating to consultation with employees on
health and safety at work, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by
the said section 2(2) and of all other powers enabling him in that
behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—
Citation, extent and
commencement
1. These
Regulations, which extend to Great Britain, may be cited as the Health
and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 and shall come
into force on 1st October 1996.
2.—(1) In these
Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
"the 1974 Act" means the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act
1974[3];
"the 1977 Regulations" means the Safety Representatives and Safety
Committees Regulations 1977[4];
"employee" has the meaning assigned to it by section 53(1) of the
1974 Act but shall not include a person employed as a domestic servant
in a private household; and "employer" shall be construed
accordingly;
"the relevant statutory provisions" has the meaning assigned to it
by section 53(1) of the 1974 Act;
"representatives of employee safety" shall be construed in
accordance with regulation 4(1)(b);
"safety representative" has the meaning assigned to it by
regulation 2(1) of the 1977 Regulations;
"workplace" means, in relation to an employee, any place or places
where that employee is likely to work or which he is likely to
frequent in the course of his employment or incidentally to it and, in
relation to a representative of employee safety, any place or places
where the employees he represents are likely so to work or
frequent.
(2) Any
reference in these Regulations to consulting employees directly or
consulting representatives of employee safety is a reference to
consulting them pursuant to regulation 3 and regulation 4(1)(a) or (b),
as the case may be.
(3) Unless
the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to—
(a) a numbered regulation or schedule is a reference to
the regulation or schedule in these Regulations so numbered; and
(b) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the
paragraph so numbered in the regulation or schedule in which the
reference appears.
Duty of employer to
consult
3. Where
there are employees who are not represented by safety representatives
under the 1977 Regulations, the employer shall consult those employees
in good time on matters relating to their health and safety at work and,
in particular, with regard to—
(a) the introduction of any measure at the workplace
which may substantially affect the health and safety of those
employees;
(b) his arrangements for appointing or, as the case may
be, nominating persons in accordance with regulations 6(1) and 7(1)(b)
of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992[5];
(c) any health and safety information he is required to
provide to those employees by or under the relevant statutory
provisions;
(d) the planning and organisation of any health and
safety training he is required to provide to those employees by or
under the relevant statutory provisions; and
(e) the health and safety consequences for those
employees of the introduction (including the planning thereof) of new
technologies into the workplace.
Persons to be
consulted
4.—(1) The
consultation required by regulation 3 is consultation with either—
(a) the employees directly; or
(b) in respect of any group of employees, one or more
persons in that group who were elected, by the employees in that group
at the time of the election, to represent that group for the purposes
of such consultation (and any such persons are in these Regulations
referred to as "representatives of employee
safety").
(2) Where an
employer consults representatives of employee safety he shall inform the
employees represented by those representatives of—
(a) the names of those representatives; and
(b) the group of employees represented by those
representatives.
(3) An
employer shall not consult a person as a representative of employee
safety if—
(a) that person has notified the employer that he does
not intend to represent the group of employees for the purposes of
such consultation;
(b) that person has ceased to be employed in the group
of employees which he represents;
(c) the period for which that person was elected has
expired without that person being re-elected; or
(d) that person has become incapacitated from carrying
out his functions under these regulations; and where pursuant to
this paragraph an employer discontinues consultation with that person he
shall inform the employees in the group concerned of that
fact.
(4) Where an employer
who has been consulting representatives of employee safety decides to
consult employees directly he shall inform the employees and the
representatives of that fact.
Duty of employer to provide
information
5.—(1) Where
an employer consults employees directly he shall, subject to paragraph
(3), make available to those employees such information, within the
employer’s knowledge, as is necessary to enable them to participate
fully and effectively in the
consultation.
(2) Where an
employer consults representatives of employee safety he shall, subject
to paragraph (3), make available to those representatives such
information, within the employer’s knowledge, as is—
(a) necessary to enable them to participate fully and
effectively in the consultation and in the carrying out of their
functions under these Regulations;
(b) contained in any record which he is required to
keep by regulation 7 of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and
Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995[6]
and which relates to the workplace or the group of employees
represented by those
representatives.
(3) Nothing
in paragraph (1) or (2) shall require an employer to make available any
information—
(a) the disclosure of which would be against the
interests of national security;
(b) which he could not disclose without contravening a
prohibition imposed by or under any enactment;
(c) relating specifically to an individual, unless he
has consented to its being disclosed;
(d) the disclosure of which would, for reasons other
than its effect on health or safety, cause substantial injury to the
employer’s undertaking or, where the information was supplied to him
by some other person, to the undertaking of that other person; or
(e) obtained by the employer for the purpose of
bringing, prosecuting or defending any legal proceedings; or to
provide or allow the inspection of any document or part of a document
which is not related to health or safety.
Functions of representatives of employee
safety
6. Where
an employer consults representatives of employee safety each of those
representatives shall, for the period for which that representative is
so consulted, have the following functions—
(a) to make representations to the employer on
potential hazards and dangerous occurrences at the workplace which
affect, or could affect, the group of employees he represents;
(b) to make representations to the employer on general
matters affecting the health and safety at work of the group of
employees he represents and, in particular, on such matters as he is
consulted about by the employer under regulation 3; and
(c) to represent the group of employees he represents
in consultations at the workplace with inspectors appointed under
section 19(1) of the 1974 Act.
Training, time off and facilities for representatives of employee
safety and time off for
candidates
7.—(1) Where
an employer consults representatives of employee safety, he shall—
(a) ensure that each of those representatives is
provided with such training in respect of that representative’s
functions under these Regulations as is reasonable in all the
circumstances and the employer shall meet any reasonable costs
associated with such training including travel and subsistence costs;
and
(b) permit each of those representatives to take such
time off with pay during that representative’s working hours as shall
be necessary for the purpose of that representative performing his
functions under these Regulations or undergoing any training pursuant
to paragraph (1)(a).
(2) An
employer shall permit a candidate standing for election as a
representative of employee safety reasonable time off with pay during
that person’s working hours in order to perform his functions as such a
candidate.
(3) Schedule 1 (pay
for time off) and Schedule 2 (provisions as to industrial tribunals)
shall have effect.
(4) An
employer shall provide such other facilities and assistance as a
representative of employee safety may reasonably require for the purpose
of carrying out his functions under these Regulations.
Amendment of the Employment Rights Act
1996
8. In
sections 44(1) (health and safety cases: right not to suffer detriment)
and 100(1) (health and safety cases: unfair dismissal) of the Employment
Rights Act 1996[7],
after paragraph (b) insert—
"(ba) the employee took part (or proposed to take part) in
consultation with the employer pursuant to the Health and Safety
(Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 or in an election of
representatives of employee safety within the meaning of those
Regulations (whether as a candidate or otherwise)," .
Exclusion of civil
liability
9. Breach
of a duty imposed by these Regulations shall, subject to regulation 7(3)
and Schedule 2, not confer any right of action in any civil
proceedings.
Application of health and safety
legislation
10. Sections
16 to 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 33, 34, 36 to 39, 42(1) to (3) and 46 of the
1974 Act, the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations
1989[8]
and the Health and Safety (Training for Employment) Regulations
1990[9]
shall apply as if any references therein to health and safety
regulations or to the relevant statutory provisions included references
to these Regulations.
Application to the Crown and armed
forces
11.—(1) Section
48 of the 1974 Act shall, subject to paragraph (2), apply in respect of
these Regulations as it applies in respect of regulations made under
Part I of that Act.
(2) These
Regulations shall apply in respect of members of the armed forces of the
Crown subject to the following—
(a) references to "representatives of employee
safety"(in regulation 4(1)(b) and elsewhere) shall, in respect of any
group of employees, be references to one or more persons in that group
who were appointed by the employer to represent that group for the
purposes of such consultation;
(b) references to "elected" and "re-elected" in
regulation 4(3)(c) shall be, respectively, references to "appointed"
and "re-appointed"; and
(c) regulation 7(1)(b), (2) and (3) shall not
apply.
Disapplication to sea-going
ships
12. These
Regulations shall not apply to or in relation to the master or crew of a
sea-going ship or to the employer of such persons in respect of the
normal ship-board activities of a ship’s crew under the direction of the
master.
Amendment of the 1977
Regulations
13. In
regulation 3(1) of the 1977 Regulations the words ", except in the case
of employees employed in a mine within the meaning of section 180 of the
Mines and Quarries Act 1954 which is a coal mine" shall be omitted.
John Selwyn Gummer
Secretary of State for the
Environment
10th June 1996
Notes:
[1] S.I. 1996/266.
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[2] 1972 c. 68.
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[3] 1974 c. 37.
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[4] S.I. 1977/500 as amended by
S.I. 1992/2051.
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[5] S.I. 1992/2051.
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[6] S.I. 1995/3163.
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[7] 1996 c. 18.
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[8] S.I. 1989/1903.
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[9] S.I. 1990/1380.
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