HSE Guidance on the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations



As a result of a recommendation in the Löftsted review (see pages 23-24) and the subsequent HSE review of its approved codes of practice (ACOPs), the HSE withdrew the Management Regulations ACOP (L21) and replaced it with a suite of “core guidance”. This includes Managing for health and safety (HSG65), which has moved away from a “Policy, Organising, Planning, Measuring Performance, Auditing and Review” model of managing health and safety to a “Plan, Do, Check, Act” approach.


Unions were extremely critical of the decision to remove the ACOP, particularly as neither Lord Young (see pages 24-25) nor Professor Löfstedt recommended its withdrawal. “An ACOP has different status from guidance, and as any safety rep could have told them, employers are far more likely to do something because it is in an ACOP” said TUC deputy general secretary Paul Nowak. “Replacing an ACOP with guidance is simply downgrading it and giving it ‘nice to have’ status.”