LRD guides and handbook July 2017

Health and safety law 2017

Chapter 7

Changes to head protection rules – turbans



[ch 7: page 130]

A health and safety exemption that allowed Sikhs to wear a turban instead of a hard hat on construction sites was extended to all workplaces. Under the Employment Act 1989, turban-wearing Sikhs were exempt from the requirement to wear head protection when working on construction sites. The Deregulation Act 2015 extended this rule (with some limited exceptions including emergency response situations) to all workplaces from 1 October 2015.