Recent developments in sector-specific laws


Construction


The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) came into force on 6 April 2015, replacing the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007).


CDM 2015 covers the management of health, safety and welfare when carrying out construction projects. The regulations set out a range of duty holders: clients, domestic clients, designers, principal designers, principle contractors, contractors and workers.


Under CDM 2015, duty holders are required to:


• manage the risks by applying the general principles of prevention;


• appoint the right people and organisations at the right time;


• make sure everyone has the information, instruction, training and supervision they need to carry out their jobs in a way that secures health and safety;


• cooperate and communicate with each other and coordinate their work; and


• consult workers and engaging with them to promote and develop effective measures to secure health, safety and welfare.


In addition, the regulations set out general requirements for all construction sites in relation to:


• Safe access and egress


• Good order and security;


• Stability of structures;


• Demolition and dismantling;


• Explosives;


• Excavations;


• Cofferdams and caissons;


• Inspection reports;


• Energy distribution installations;


• Prevention of drowning;


• Traffic routes;


• Vehicles;


• Prevention of risk from fire, flooding or asphyxiation;


• Emergency procedures;


• Emergency routes and exits;


• Fire detection and fire-fighting;


• Fresh air;


• Temperature and weather protection; and


• Lighting.


Minimum welfare facilities for construction sites with regard to:


• Sanitary conveniences;


• Washing facilities;


• Drinking water;


• Changing rooms and lockers; and


• Facilities for rest.


Work involving particular risks:


• Burial, engulfment or falling from height;


• Exposure to chemical or biological substances;


• Work with ionising radiation;


• Work near high voltage power lines;


• Work exposing workers to the risk of drowning;


• Work on wells, underground earthworks and tunnels,


• Work carried out by divers with an air supply system;


• Work carried out in caissons with a compressed air atmosphere;


• Work with explosives; and


• Work involving the assembly or dismantling of heavy prefabricated components.


While an ACOP accompanied the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2007, the HSE has issued guidance, rather than a new ACOP, to accompany the 2015 CDM Regulations. The HSE Board agreed in March 2016 “that the case for an ACOP adding value to the existing suite of guidance had not been made”, but in view of trade union support for an ACOP, it will review the situation in a year’s time.


Mines


The Mines Regulations 2014 came into force on 6 April 2015 and replaced 47 mines-specific legal instruments (32 substantive sets of Regulations or orders, 13 amending instruments and two Acts dating from 1954 to 2007). Professor Löfstedt’s 2011 report Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation (see page 22) recommended this consolidation.


The HSE publication L149 Mines Regulations 2014 Guidance on Regulations now applies.


Unions criticised exempting mines from the previously compulsory Mine Rescue Service in the event of workers being trapped underground, and changes to mine safety inspections.


Offshore


The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 (SCR 2015) came into force in July 2015, replacing the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005, subject to a number of transitional arrangements. The Regulations apply to oil and gas operations in external waters, that is the territorial sea adjacent to Great Britain and any designated area within the United Kingdom continental shelf (UKCS). Oil and gas activities in internal waters (e.g. estuaries), continue to be covered by the 2005 Regulations.


The new regulations have been enacted in response to a 2013 European directive on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations, which was adopted following the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. Eleven people died as a result of the explosion, which also caused the worst oil spill in US history.


New safety rules for offshore helicopter flights came into force in September 2014 and January 2015. Since September 2014, passengers can only fly if they are seated next to a push-out window exit. An improved emergency breathing system became mandatory from January 2015. Unions are continuing to push for a public inquiry into helicopter safety, following a series of offshore “ditching” incidents and deaths over recent years.