Earlier this week the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, released a consultative document seeking the views on its proposals to remove 12 legislative measures, including two Acts and ten Regulations, which it believes are either redundant or have been overtaken by more up-to-date legislation.
The legislation put forward to be removed includes the Factories Act 1961 and the Offices, Shops & Railways Premises Act 1963 and various regulations associated with them, such as the Factories Act (Docks, Building and Engineering Construction, etc) Modification Regulations 1938.
The removal of the statutes has been proposed as part of HSE’s ‘tidying up’ of its legislation, subject to consideration of any legal issues, primarily the need to make provisions for legislation relying on terms or conditions defined in the legislation being repealed.
The consultation follows on from two conducted last year where HSE sought views on the proposed repeal and revocation of seven and then 14 pieces of legislation.
Responses may be sent in by filling in the online form, attaching the form to an email or by post, which should be sent to the HSE’s offices in Bootle, Merseyside.
The Executive says it will acknowledge all responses and will provide a summary of the views expressed to each question on the HSE’s website. The consultation closes on 12 July 2013.
The Executive is also planning to revoke two further sets of Regulations, which are the Heath and Safety (Repeals and Revocations) Regulations 1995 and the Health and Safety (Repeals and Revocations) Regulation 1996 but these revocations are not included in the consultative document.