HSE Consultation on the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (Application Outside Great Britain) Order

The UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) recently issued a consultation document on proposals to replace the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (application outside Great Britain) Order 2001 with a new 2003 Order. The intention is to ensure that all workers offshore are adequately covered and that HSE maintains its authority to regulate offshore. The 2001 Order extends the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) beyond the mainland of Great Britain to specified offshore areas and work activities. This covers the UK continental shelf up to 200 miles offshore. Without the Order, HSE would not have the power to regulate offshore. However, the order does not extend the HSWA wholesale. Instead it only extends the HSWA to specific work activities that the HSE is responsible for regulating offshore, eg offshore installations, wells, mines, pipelines and diving projects. In 2009 the 2001 Order was amended to give the HSE the power to regulate energy structures (eg wind/wave farms) beyond the 12 mile limit and to regulate offshore installations used for other purposes. However this amendment is only valid until April 2013. The consultation document puts forward HSE’s proposal to replace the 2001 Order and its amendments with a new 2013 Order which will again extend the HSWA to offshore installations and pipeline activities and diving projects, as well as regulation of energy structures (eg wind/wave farms) and it will now also include emerging energy technologies such as carbon dioxide storage and underground coal gasification. The consultation document provides detail and reasoning behind HSE’s proposals. In addition, the consultation document also identifies amendments in wording which are intended to simplify the Order by clarifying the definition of certain activities, eg the addition of text to include anchor handling activities. The consultation document is available from hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd232.htm The closing date for the responses is 4 July 2012. Could you please forward any comments you may have to Jane Bugler by 30 June 2012 so they can be included in IMCA’s response.

Originally issued with the following reference(s): IMCA EA 01/12