Health and safety: the state of play

摘要

HSB's latest biannual state-of-play table reviews HSE, government and other initiatives around occupational health and safety from 4 May to 4 October 2022 (HSB nos. 510 to 513 inclusive). The table also looks at likely health and safety developments over the coming 12 months. The past five months have seen, as in the previous period, continuing implementation of the post-Grenfell Tower building safety and fire regime. There has, however, been no change in COVID-19 advice for employers, even as the country gears up for a likely winter rise in infections. And, as one major public inquiry - on Grenfell Tower -ends, another - on COVID-19 - begins. Recent months have also seen what may (or may not) provide the bedrock for a fundamental decrease in worker protection by the end of 2023. The administration of the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has introduced a ratcheted-up version of Boris Johnson's promised "Brexit Freedoms Bill": the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will mean that all EU-retained law will automatically be repealed on 31 December 2023 unless the government opts to turn it into "assimilated" law. Government departments are now reviewing every piece of retained EU law, which includes the six-pack and nearly all other core health and safety Regulations. Alongside this, the Conservative Government's 2019 election manifesto commitment to introduce an Employment Bill to improve worker protections appears to have gone permanently AWOL.