7. EQUIPMENT AT WORK

Changes and developments since last year

• it now appears that the European Commission is actively considering producing a Council Recommendation on MSDs rather than a new Directive. A recommendation would have no binding effect on Member States;

• several work equipment ACOPs are to be revised and reissued following a recommendation in the Löfstedt review;

• the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations (SI 2010/333) and the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 have been scrapped by the Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Repeals, Revocations and Amendments) Regulations 2013, which came into force on 6 April 2013;

• an HSE review of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 has recommended making no change to the regulations;

• construction union UCATT has raised the alarm on counterfeit PPE and has called on the HSE to ban the practice of selling PPE through vending machines.