How often have you heard the phrase ‘we want our business to be compliant’ within your company?
Is compliance with legislation such as environmental or health and safety (H&S) legislation not the absolute minimum requirement for businesses? Should aspirations not be pitched much higher? If a company sees compliance as the ultimate aim, they’re ultimately limiting themselves as to the benefits they can achieve by going that one step further.
By adopting a more ambitious performance-based approach to managing their environmental and H&S impacts and risks, the benefits can outweigh the costs to businesses.
Environmental law in particular has a number of complex regulations that change on a regular basis and, without active management, it can be a slippery slope keeping on top of environmental compliance. However, not all business environmental risks are regulated and the opportunities to benefit from effective management of environmental performance can add significant business value.
Take resource efficiency for example. The rising costs of material and energy mean businesses can no longer be uninformed when it comes to the amount of raw materials or energy they consume on a daily basis. While good environmental management offers companies the opportunity to cut costs, the business opportunities can be much greater and aren’t confined to large companies.
Research conducted for the UK Government into the benefits of environmental management to SMEs found over a third felt they had achieved new business sales as a result of their certified Environmental Management System (EMS). Similarly, another third confirmed that they expected new sales to be achieved as a result of their EMS, but could not put a value on it.
On the other hand, other environmental impacts a business has are governed by law. For example, greenhouse gas emissions are largely controlled through a series of regulations and fiscal instruments, mainly from EU level. Complying with regulations that limit greenhouse gas emissions enable businesses to help reduce the impact of climatic events, which are increasing through climate change. These events could be in the form of floods and drought, which can significantly disrupt business operations and supply chains. Building business resilience to a changing climate is a growing feature of environmental management activity, helping to ensure companies can be sustainable and succeed over the long term.
Compliance is merely one element of excellent performance which opens up the possibility of achieving real business benefit in terms of efficiency, sustainability, worker engagement and ultimately ‘ profitability. Think outside the box and identify how effective environmental and H&S management adds to your business and integrating performance measures that aspire to enhance this value.
What is RIDDOR and what do I need to do to comply?
RIDDOR – it’s a scary beast isn’t it? At 32 pages long, the Regulations are enough to strike fear in anyone’s heart!
So, I’ll start as I mean to go on and keep this simple by answering just 2 questions that you’ll need to understand RIDDOR.
1) What is RIDDOR?
2) What do I need to do?
Two questions is certainly less scary than a 32 page long document, so keep calm and carry on (reading this blog)…
1) WHAT IS RIDDOR?
RIDDOR is the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013.
The law came into force on 1st October 2013 replacing RIDDOR 1995 (as amended).
It legally requires employers and other people in control of work premises (known as the ‘responsible person’) to report to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and keep records of the following:
work related fatalities
work related accidents causing certain serious injuries (known as reportable injuries)
certain work related diagnosed occupational diseases
certain dangerous occurrences (known as near misses)
gas incidents.
2) WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
This section will cover what must be reported, how to report it and the requirements for keeping records.
Accidents causing death or serious injury
An accident is defined as a separate, identifiable, unintended incident which causes physical injury. It also includes acts of violence to workers. However, not all accidents are required to be reported under RIDDOR. The accident must be work related and cause a ‘reportable injury’.
Types of reportable injury:
Death – All deaths resulting from work related accidents to workers and non-workers must be reported. Suicides are exempt.
Over 7 day injuries to workers – Where a worker is off work or can’t carry out their normal work duties for over 7 consecutive days following an accident (not including the day the accident occurred).
Injuries to non-workers – Work related accidents resulting in injury to non-workers i.e. members of the public or visitors, must be reported if they’re taken from the accident scene to be treated for that injury in hospital. You don’t need to report what hospital treatment was given. Accidents where a person is taken to hospital as a precaution, but where no injury is apparent, don’t have to be reported.
List of specified injuries to workers:
fractures (except fingers, thumbs and toes);
amputation of an arm, hand, finger, thumb, leg, foot or toe;
permanent loss of sight or a reduction of sight;
crush injuries resulting in internal organ damage;
serious burns (over more than 10% of the body, or damaging the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs);
scalpings (separation of skin from the head) which need hospital treatment;
unconsciousness caused by a head injury or asphyxia;
any other injury caused by working in enclosed spaces, leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness, resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours.
Occupational diseases
The following list of (diagnosed) occupational diseases, which are likely to have been caused or made worse by work, must be reported:
carpal tunnel syndrome
severe cramp of the hand or forearm
occupational dermatitis
hand-arm vibration syndrome
occupational asthma
tendonitis or tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm
any occupational cancer
any disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent.
Dangerous occurrences/near misses
These are specified ‘near miss’ events which have the potential to cause harm. Not all near misses need to be reported, a full list is available in Schedule 2 to the RIDDOR 2013 Regulations.
Common near misses include the collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment, plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines, and explosions or fires resulting in work being stopped for over 24 hours.
Gas incidents
If you’re a distributor, filler, importer or supplier of flammable gas who learns (directly or indirectly) that a person has died, lost consciousness or been admitted to hospital from gas which you have either distributed, filled, imported or supplied, you must report this online.
Gas engineers that are registered with the Gas Safe Register must report details of any gas appliances or fittings which you think could be dangerous and result in gas leaks, inadequate combustion or inadequate removal of products of the combustion of gas. The danger may be from the way the appliance or fitting is designed, constructed, installed, modified or serviced.
Here’s some other information that might be of use.
WHAT YOU DON’T NEED TO REPORT UNDER RIDDOR.
Road traffic accidents, except if the accident involved:
loading/unloading a vehicle
work on the side of the road i.e. construction or maintenance works
a substance being carried by the vehicle which escaped
a train.
Medical or dental treatment or examinations.
Duties carried out by the armed forces whilst on duty.
Phone – For fatal and specified injuries only, the Incident Contact Centre is open Mon-Fri 8.30 am – 5 pm on 0845 300 9923.
Out of hours reporting – For serious incidents such as a work related death, serious incidents involving multiple casualties or serious incidents causing major disruption e.g. evacuation, road closures, large numbers of people going to hospital, you can call the HSE’s Duty Officer on 0151 922 9235.
RECORDING INCIDENTS – WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
Recording incidents under RIDDOR is something you must do yourself in e.g. an accident book and it’s an important and useful tool to manage health and safety effectively in your business. That’s because knowing about past incidents can help you prevent future ones from happening. Take the accident book as an example – keeping a record of incidents in here can help you carry out risk assessments for future activities.
Under RIDDOR, you must keep a record of:
Accidents, occupational diseases or dangerous occurrences (near misses) which must be reported under RIDDOR; and
Other occupational accidents resulting in injuries where a worker is absent from work or is incapacitated for more than 3 consecutive days. This doesn’t include the day of the accident but does include any weekends or other rest days. Note – injuries that incapacitate a worker for over 7 days must be reported as well as recorded.
You must produce RIDDOR records when requested by the HSE, a local authority or the Office for Rail Regulation Inspectors.
And there you have it – to understand RIDDOR you just have to know what needs recording and reporting and what doesn’t. We’ve calmed the beast, so smile with relief and keep this guide to hand.
From 700BC to 2008, a quick look at environmental law’s landmark pieces of legislation.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published its annual health and safety statistics for Great Britain. The statistics cover ill health and disease, safety, enforcement (i.e. notices and prosecutions) and costs resulting from poor health and safety and lost working days.
Key figures (2013 – 2014):
– 1.2 million people suffered from ill health (46%) or injury (54%);
– 133 people were killed at work;
– There were approximately 13,000 work-related deaths (99% due to ill health);
– 28.2 million working days were lost due to ill health (83%) and safety incidents (17%);
– The estimated cost of ill health and injuries from working conditions is £14.2 billion (based on 2012-2013 figures).
Workplace ill health
The most common work-related ill health conditions are stress, musculoskeletal disorders, skin disease and asthma. The most common long-latency conditions are cancers, asbestos related diseases, COPD and other respiratory conditions, vibration and hearing loss.
Workplace injury
There were 133 fatal injuries, 80,000 non-fatal injuries reported by employers under RIDDOR and 629,000 self-reported injuries from the Labour Force Survey. The most common causes of injury were manual handling, falls from height and slips/trips.
Economic costs
Ill health and injury is estimated to cost £14.2 billion annually, this figure excludes the cost of cancer as these figures are not yet available. Ill health makes up 60% and injuries (including fatalities) 40% of the total cost. Over recent years costs have fallen and show signs of leveling off.
Find out what the April 2014 amendments to the main Waste Regulations are for England and Wales.
On the 6th April 2014 an amendment to the main Waste Regulations for England and Wales came into force.
The changes, although minor in detail, could have a big impact on the way businesses discharge their ‘duty of care’ obligations with regards non-hazardous waste.
‘Duty of care’ in relation to waste is the cornerstone of waste law in the UK, and places a duty on anyone who in any way has a responsibility for controlled waste to ensure that it is managed properly and recovered or disposed of safely.
Waste Transfer Notes
Key to this since 1991 has been the Waste Transfer Note ‘ a document which accompanies each movement of non-hazardous controlled waste and contains important information about the type of waste being moved, its quantity, address details of the waste producer and the carrier.
Waste Transfer Notes have historically been used by the waste regulators, such as the Environment Agency, to track and ensure the safe and legal movement of non-hazardous waste throughout the waste management chain.
Written Information
The new Regulations amend the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 by effectively removing the legal requirement for a Waste Transfer Note to be in place for each movement of waste and instead allow the use of ‘Written Information’ to cover the transfer of waste on any other documentation which forms part of the waste transaction.
‘Written Information’ must still meet strict requirements and include certain information that was found on the Waste Transfer Note, but this change in legislation paves the way for the replacement of Waste Transfer Notes with other documents, such as invoices or collection receipts.
The information which must still be used on documentation includes:
(a) A description of the waste including its 6 digit code from the List of Wastes Regulations 2005 and state—
its quantity and whether it is loose or in a container,
if in a container, the kind of container,
the time and place of transfer, and
the SIC code of the transferor;
(b) The name and address of the transferor and the transferee and be signed by them;
(c) Whether each of the transferor and transferee are—
the producer of the waste,
the importer of the waste,
the transporter of the waste,
a local authority,
a holder of an environmental permit under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, in which case the note must include the permit number (if any),
a person carrying on an operation to which section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 does not apply by virtue of regulation 68(2) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010,
a person registered as a carrier of controlled waste under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989, in which case the note must include the registration number (if any),
a person registered as a broker of or dealer in controlled waste, in which case the note must include the registration number (if any);
(d) confirm that the transferor has discharged the duty in regulation 12 in relation to the waste hierarchy.
The amendment doesn’t revoke Waste Transfer Notes so these can still be used as before, including annual Waste Transfer Notes or ‘season tickets’ as they’re sometimes known. However with the launch of edoc ‘ the electronic duty of care online system in January 2014, which provides an alternate system for the management of Waste Transfer Notes by eliminating the need for paper-based documents ‘ the Government seems to be moving towards a more flexible approach to waste management documentation.
The only question that remains is whether this relaxing of paperwork requirements will help streamline duty of care evidence by reducing paperwork per transaction, or whether the evidence of waste transactions will become lost in financial, transport or other office paperwork. The decision, as they say, is yours…
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have reminded businesses that the transitional period for displaying the new health and safety law poster, issuing new leaflets or pocket cards ends on the 5th April this year.
Under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations (HSIER) 2009, employers must display the approved poster, which outlines health and safety law, in a prominent position in each workplace or alternatively provide each worker with the approved leaflet or pocket card, which is available as a free download.
The revised poster and leaflet which was issued in 2009 replaced the 1999 version, which is no longer on sale.
The HSE Board allowed a five year transition period for businesses to replace the poster and leaflet to avoid unnecessarily burdening them. They must be replaced no later than 5th April 2014.
Posters, leaflets and pocket-cards can be purchased through the HSE website.
Initiated as part of the Defra Red Tape Challenge, aiming to reduce bureaucracy for business, the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 (SWMP) are going to be repealed on the 1st December 2013. This comes after a consultation that divided opinion over the cut.
A public consultation on the plans to repeal the SWMPs Regulations ran from 18th June to 16 July 2013, the formal response to which is published here. To one key question asked in the consultation, 49% of respondents said that they were in favour and 49% were against scrapping the Regulations. Significantly however, 83% of respondents said they would still use some form of tool to record and manage waste on site.
Policing of the SWMP Regulations was cited as a key issue in the consultation. As Local Authorities and the Environment Agency have a power, but not a duty to enforce, this was seen as one of the main obstacles to better enforcement of these Regulations and therefore greater use of SWMPs.
The £300,000 threshold was also flagged up as a flaw in the Regulations. Several respondents to the consultation suggested that while the Regulations were introduced to cut fly-tipping, most fly-tipping results from contracts worth less than £300,000 and therefore fly-tipping had not be affected by the Regulations. This is something that Defra admits in its consultation response, stating that while fly-tipping in the UK has fallen, construction related fly-tipping as a proportion, has not.
Cross border confusion is also inevitable as SWMPs are looking to be introduced in Wales while they are being repealed in England. Respondents to the consultation stated that this gives a mixed message about the benefits of SWMPs and lack of joined up government.
Defra estimates that the repeal of the Regulations will save businesses £3.9m through reduced administration costs. Defra also makes it clear that the purpose of deregulation is not to outlaw SWMPs or to discourage their use but to allow businesses to balance the costs and benefits of using a SWMP for each project.
Due to the recent amendment of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (as amended), from 1st October 2013 first aid training and qualifications will no longer need to be approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
A third edition of The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 guidance, which applies from 1st October 2013 has been published by the HSE and is available here.
The HSE has also issued guidance for employers on selecting a first-aid training provider, which is available here.
The British Standard for Workplace First Aid Kits: BS8599-1 has been updated to take account of recent changes to The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 that remove the requirement for the HSE to approve first-aid training and qualifications.
The standard will help businesses to understand and comply with the Regulations and provides practical advice for employers. The Regulations apply to all workplaces, including those with less than five employees.
New BS8599-1 compliant first aid kits have been designed by industry experts. They better meet the needs of the modern workplace and are now truly fit for purpose.
Many employers do not have the skills, knowledge or experience to properly make up a first aid kit piece by piece and getting it wrong could leave them open to claims of negligence. For example, an employer may deem risks from burns to be very low in an office environment; however, if an employee was scalded by a hot drink and the first aid kit did not contain a burns dressing, lawyers may claim for any scarring suffered by the employee. Employers should carry out risk assessments and match them to British Standard first aid kits.
The second set of changes to the RIDDOR regime in two years have now been approved and are set to come into effect from 1st October 2013.
Following a consultation triggered by recommendations from the Lofstedt report on health and safety law, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013 have been simplified
The HSE is making changes to RIDDOR 1995 that it says will clarify and simplify reporting and ensure data collected gives an accurate and useful picture of workplace incidents.
Key changes due to come into effect on the 1st October 2013 include; the ‘major injuries’ classification being reduced to a smaller list of ‘specified injuries’ and that fewer types of ‘dangerous occurrences’ will need to be reported. The current list of 47 types of industrial disease is also to be simplified into eight categories of reportable work-related illness.
The HSE has made it clear that there will be no major changes to the reporting of accidents where there is a fatality, where a member of the public is involved or where an employee is incapacitated for more than a week.
The HSE states that this deregulation of RIDDOR will save business £5.9 million over a 10 year period.
This simplification comes as earlier this month, the HSE published figures showing a significant reduction is workplace accidents and Britain continues to have one of the lowest workplace death rates in Europe. Figures show that workplace fatal injuries have halved in the past 18 years but still represent 1 worker per 200,000 employed and self employed.
Guidance on the changes to RIDDOR can be found on the HSE website.
The Government’s ‘one-in, one-out’ rule which was introduced under its Better Regulation regime is not working quickly enough so is being replaced with ‘one-in, two-out’.
From January 2013, every regulation the Government introduces that imposes a new financial burden on firms must be offset by reductions in red tape that will save double those costs.
This will apply to all domestic regulation affecting businesses and voluntary organisations but not to EU legislation (unless it has been transposed in a way that goes above minimum EU requirements). Other areas that are exempt include tax administration and civil emergencies regulation.
Under ‘one-in, one-out’ the forecasted cost impact of every new regulation had to be matched by savings elsewhere of an equivalent amount. According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills this has already reduced net costs on business by around £850 million since January 2011.
‘One-in, two-out’ will push this even further and ensure that Government departments use regulation only as a last resort.
