During the current Brexit negotiations there has been speculation about the extent to which safety and health regulations, currently governed by the EU, could shape UK industry in the future. We have consequently been keen to keep our membership as well-informed as possible, particularly with regards to the impact of the new PPE Regulations that will become applicable from the 21st April 2018. 

The BSIF is actively engaging with the Government and all affiliated bodies to establish the official positions as the negotiations process progresses. We will therefore continue our efforts to ensure that the safety of the UK workforce is not compromised, that the UK continues to have a place in standards development and product certification, and that fundamental good safety and health practice and policies remain in place.

To the general public, safety and health is often seen as overbearing and an unnecessary burden, often because it is lambasted and parodied in the media. It is through our work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) that we will be working against these misconceptions to prevent safety and health regulations taking a separate path from the rest of Europe. 

Non-conforming PPE

Never before has there been more widespread evidence of non-conforming PPE products, including safety toe caps, leather gloves and hi-vis clothing. As a result, we have expanded the BSIF Registered Safety Supplier Scheme (RSSS) in an effort to prevent non-compliant and non-conforming PPE from entering the UK market.

We are therefore actively engaging with Government and local authorities to inform them of the importance of sourcing PPE from capable suppliers who are members of the RSSS in order to ensure safer practices become part and parcel of national and local authority procurement strategies.

Long-latency illnesses

In addition to our concerns for the provision of occupational safety, we are also keen to improve the response to work-related long-latency illnesses such as noise-induced hearing loss, occupational dermatitis and skin cancers, and occupational lung disease which still kills thousands of people every year because of some past exposure at work. The BSIF has been engaging with the Department of Health in order to demonstrate that better safety and health legislation would cut back work-related illness rates. This is supported by our Parliamentary Report on Work Related Respiratory Illness that was launched last year to develop our engagement with local councils. 

Early Day Motion

A year ago now, we registered our 2nd  Early Day Motion (EDM) in Westminster that supported the HSE’s Helping Great Britain Work Well strategy and agreed that effective safety and health cultures should be celebrated in business rather than be seen as a burden. The EDM also recognised the reduction in the HSE’s budget and the implications this could have on regulations being implemented. Since then a further Parliamentary event and numerous individual meetings with MP’s have helped to progress our aims and inspired a large number of pertinent ‘Questions in the House’.

While we have all been given assurances that safety and health for our workforce will be amongst the primary concerns during Brexit negotiations, the BSIF will continue to press for the details and operational activities necessary to ensure its continued effectiveness are not left out of the discussions.