‘Brexit’ – How will this affect H&S?

So, with the UK having opted to leave the EU; how will this affect health and safety (H&S) laws within the UK?  Well, the truth is, as with everything else surrounding ‘Brexit’, nobody quite knows – yet.

For the past four decades EU legislation and directives have, in one way or another, had a major influence over our regulations. Most of our H&S rules and regulations are directly or indirectly imposed by the EU, with UK statutory bodies creating legislation to, as a minimum, comply with these EU Directives.

In the short term, we don’t think we will see any immediate changes. In the first instance, any changes that the UK Government may want to make to our laws will have to be drafted and agreed through the relevant channels, which can be a long drawn out process. It is likely that during this period, our EU derived H&S laws will be made UK law.

Regardless of which, the vast majority our regulations would likely have existed https://www.completesafetysupplies.co.uk/downloads/1470296200Fotolia_110257576_M.jpg without the input from Brussels.

We like to think that our UK regulations and standards far exceed the requirements set out by the EU. To understand this at a very basic level, all you need to do is look at accident statistics, which are, by far, more favourable compared to that of other large EU economies – http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/european/european-comparisons.pdf

Yes, it’s likely that there will be changes in the coming years, but my feeling is, as UK organisations will want to continue to trade in Europe, it will be in everyone’s interest to continue to strive to perform well in all aspects of H&S and continue to apply our successful systems.

The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) recently issued a statement in which they stated, “IOSH will continue to promote agreed international standards and to defend against any erosion of health and safety protections”.

So for now, it’s business as usual. However, watch this space!