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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Health have announced that from 31st March 2018 in England and 31st May 2018 in Scotland the government-funded Fit for Work occupational health service will cease to take on new cases due to low take-up.
Fit for Work was launched in December 2014 as a referral service of GPs, the service was then extended to allow employers to refer staff in September 2015.
A high take-up was expected with a study from the DWP suggesting that GPs alone could refer between 310,000 and 450,000 people to the service each year. However, in October 2016 a debate in the House of Lords revealed that Fit for Work had seen fewer than 10,000 referrals in its first full year of operation.
The decision to end the service came as part of the government’s response to a consultation on disabled people in the workplace.
After the service ends, employers, employees and GPs will still have access to support via its website, webchat and helpline services, which offer general health and work advice as well as support on sickness absence.
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This month the government published new regulations on Ionising Radiation which will come into force on 1st January 2018.
The Regulations will replace the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999 and implement Euratom’s Basic Safety Standards Directive which covers public, occupational and medical exposures to ionising radiation.
They impose duties on employers to protect employees and other persons against ionising radiation arising from work with radioactive substances and other sources of ionising radiation. Certain duties are also imposed on employees.
The main changes to the legislation include:
The HSE has published a draft Approved Code of Practice and guidance on work with ionising radiation which can be accessed here.
If you are a LUS subscriber, please refer to the register entry available here.
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The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE’s) 2016/17 injury and ill health statistics show fines handed to duty holders found guilty of health and safety offences increased by 80% in the first full year that the new sentencing guidelines were in place.
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In 2016/17 fines reached £69.9m compared with £38.8m for the same period a year earlier. This is the second consecutive year in which financial penalties have soared.
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The Sentencing Council’s Definitive Guidelines for Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences were introduced in February 2016. Under the new guidelines, the level of fine corresponds to the offending organisation’s turnover. Therefore, large companies, with an annual turnover of more than £50 million, which fall into the very high culpability category, could be fined up to £10 million. In 2016/17, thirty-eight cases received fines over £500k and the largest fine of £5m was issued to Merlin Entertainments.
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Though total penalties increased, the number of prosecutions brought by the HSE, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland decreased. There were 554 cases that resulted in a conviction for at least one offence in 2016/17 compared with 672 such cases in 2015/16.
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The HSE and local authorities also issued 11,913 enforcement notices in 2016/17, a 5% increase compared with the previous period when 11,380 were served. Â
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Other key figures from the 2016/17 statistics are highlighted below:
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The transition deadlines for ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015 are on the horizon, with just over 9 months to go until ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certificates will no longer be valid.
The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) have recently announced that as of 15th March 2018, certification bodies must conduct all ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 audits to the 2015 versions in order to help certified organisations have time to manage non-conformities before the ultimate September deadline.
Many organisations will have begun or even completed their recertification; but those who have not yet started their transition run the risk of losing their certification. ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 will both cease to apply from the middle of September 2018.
Although there is no set time for how long a transition will take, as the degree of change needed will depend on how an organisation has developed and uses its existing management system, it is important to give yourself enough time to implement the new standards into your management system.
Newground have provided consultancy support to a number of clients who have successfully transitioned to the new Standards. If you require any assistance with transition to ISO 14001:2015 and/or ISO 9001:2015 our consultancy team can help make your transition as smooth as possible.
Services include gap analysis, practical implementation support and in-house training. Please click here for more information about our services or give us a call to discuss your requirements on 01254 669002.
As a reminder, here is an article about the changes we made to the LUS system back in 2016 to comply with ISO 14001:2015 and the new health and safety standard, ISO 45001, due to be released in 2017.
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The legislative framework for water abstraction licensing is being changed.
Four new pieces of legislation have been published amending the Water Resources Act 1991, to end historical exemptions from water abstraction licensing control in England and Wales.
The new legislation includes:
The removal of historical exemptions will mean that anyone taking significant amounts of water from ground or surface waters without a licence will be required to apply for one.
Following a consultation, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) decided to end the following exemptions:
Once the exemptions end, the normal threshold will apply, meaning that only those abstracting more than 20m³/day in aggregate from a source of supply will need to apply for an abstraction licence.
DEFRA has also created new exemptions for some low risk abstractions:
Changes to the exemptions will then come into force on 1 January 2018 at which point a two-year new licence application period will open.
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The British Standards Institution (BSI) has revised its standard for fire detection and fire alarm systems.
The standard, BS 5839-1:2017, which is referred to in the Government’s statutory guidance fire safety, details the planning, design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in and around non-domestic premises.
The revised standard takes into account the changes to other major fire safety standards including BS EN 54 series of standards for fire detection and fire alarm systems and BS 9999 for fire safety in commercial buildings. These changes will also reduce confusion in the marketplace around how to implement the recommendations given in BS 5839-1.
The revised standard will also provide additional guidance for:
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Does your organisation need to comply with the second compliance period of ESOS? You will if you are a large organisation that meets one of the following criteria:
– employs 250 or more staff; or
– has an annual turnover in excess of £42 million and an annual balance sheet total of around £36.5 million; or
– are part of a corporate group containing a large organisation.
The ESOS Regulations 2014 bring into force Article 8 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive and requires all large organisations in the UK to undertake comprehensive assessments of energy use and energy efficiency opportunities at least once every four years.
The first compliance period (17th July 2014 to 5th December 2015) has now ended and organisations will now be working towards the second compliance period (6th December 2015 to 5th December 2019). An organisation must comply with ESOS if on the compliance date, 5th December 2019, it meets the definition of a large organisation.
Organisations that qualify for ESOS must carry out ESOS assessments every 4 years.
An ESOS Assessment requires participants to:
1. measure their total energy consumption across a 12month period, either in energy units (such as KWh) or in expenditure terms (£);
2. conduct energy audits to identify cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities, these can take four forms:
– ESOS energy audit;
– An ISO 5001 certified Energy Management System;
– Display Energy Certificates (DECs) and accompanying advisory reports; or
– Green Deal Assessments
3. Report compliance on or before the compliance date of each compliance period.
ESOS energy audits must be carried out or approved by a recognised Lead Assessor.
ESOS is designed to lead to greater energy efficiency, cost savings and carbon reduction in the business sector. It is estimated that a net value of £1.6 billion will be generated from the scheme in the UK and a majority of this money will apply directly to businesses through cost savings.
Failing to comply with ESOS can have serious repercussions. Seven percent of obligated companies failed to comply with the first compliance period leading to the Environment Agency serving over 350 enforcement notices since the compliance deadline. The maximum penalty for failing to undertake an energy audit ahead of the ESOS compliance deadline is up to £50,000 and up to £500 for each working day that the responsible undertaking remains in breach of the mandatory scheme, for a maximum of 80 working days.
The second compliance period for ESOS is approaching make sure your organisation is prepared.
ESOS guidance is available here.
On 21st August the Welsh Government published its new Natural Resource Policy (NRP), the second major milestone after ‘The State of Natural Resources Report (SoNaRR) 2016’ in the implementation of the Environment (Wales) Act.
SoNaRR outlined how Wales’ natural resources provide the country with a wide range of benefits and opportunities. The Welsh Government says it needs to improve the way natural resources are managed in Wales in order to realise these benefits.
The NRP’s main focus is the sustainable management of Wales’ natural resources, to maximise their contribution to achieving goals within the Well-being of Future Generations Act. The policy sets out three National Priorities which include:
The Cabinet Secretary, Lesley Griffiths, has said that focusing efforts on key areas will allow Wales to directly address the challenges affecting the country’s natural resources and realise the benefits they provide for the well-being and prosperity of the nation.
The Welsh Government says the next step in implementing the NRP will be for Natural Resources Wales to produce area statements “to ensure that the national priorities for sustainable management of natural resources inform the approach to local deliveryâ€.
Link to Natural Resource Policy.
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The final UK Air Quality Plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide has been published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Department for Transport (DfT) and the devolved administrations.
The plan sets out how the UK will be reducing roadside nitrogen dioxide concentration and details how the government plans to meet their legal requirements set out in the Air Quality Standard Regulations 2010 (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland & Scotland).
The government plans to help local authorities reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution by:
The government also plans to end the sale of all new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040.
Following the publication of the plan the Low Carbon Vehicles Partnership (LowCVP) and the Energy Saving Trust (EST) have launched the clean vehicle retrofit accreditation scheme (CVRAS). This government-backed scheme aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of air pollution abatement technologies retrofitted to older vehicles.
The primary function of the CVRAS is to allow owners of older vehicles to avoid paying to enter clean air zones (CAZ) and in turn cutting economic costs of CAZs, as retrofitting is generally far less expensive than buying an entirely new vehicle.
Link to Air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in UK (2017).
Link to the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme.
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The Health and Safety (First-Aid) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 will come into operation on 31st October 2017. The Regulations remove the requirement for the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) to approve the training and qualifications of appointed first-aid personnel. The removal of HSENI’s approval role will afford duty holders greater flexibility in deciding on the most appropriate training to suit their specific workplace needs.
The HSENI and the Department for the Economy have withdrawn their approval of the Code of Practice entitled ‘First-aid at work: The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982.’ The Code of Practice will be replaced with the new Health and Safety Executive guidance entitled ‘First aid at work (L74).’
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