IWGB union wins legal case on government failure to grant workers EU health and safety protections

In November 2020, the IWGB union won a judicial review case against the government in the High Court. This found the government had failed to grant workers health and safety protections they are entitled to under EU health and safety law. The union successfully argued that EU law extends these protections to all those classified as workers, but UK law only protected employees.

The union said the judgement means that workers are entitled to the same EU-derived health and safety rights as employees — these are retained in UK law post-Brexit (see page 44 above). For example, they should be provided with PPE by the business they are working for and have the right to stop work in response to serious and imminent danger. The union called on the government to legislate to ensure all workers have the right to PPE and to refuse unsafe work.

As a result of the case, the BEIS business department laid the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Protection from Detriment in Health and Safety Cases) (Amendment) Order 2021. This came into force on 31 May 2021 (see Chapter 5). The HSE also launched a four-week consultation on changes to the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations (PPER) 1992 following the union’s legal action. The HSE is consulting on amendments to the PPER to align them with the court’s judgement (see Chapter 8).