Posted By Jennifer Kelly Morning all - I just wanted to check that I am interpreting the Health & Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 correctly. Under these regulations is it purely the choice of the employer as to whether they communicate directly with employees or via elected representatives? Do the regulations give employees any say at all in this choice? Thanks Jennifer

Posted By Jonathan Sandler CMIOSH Has this regulation not been superseded by the Consultaion and Information of Employees Regulations 2005? Regards

Posted By Jonathan Sandler CMIOSH Would suggest the you speak to the DTI, they can be very useful. Regards

Posted By Kieran J Duignan While empathising with Frank's observation about 'Another example of different Govt depts not getting their Act [!!] together and producing potentially confusing legislation 'cos of the names', I regret to have to comment that government are not obliged to co-ordinate legislation to make its implementation more management. The Regulatory Reform Act empowers Parliament to resolve the conflict which Jonathan has highlighted but, so far, it deems other matters, such as Fire Safety, of greater importance. In practice, this does mean that, as Frank implies, an employer is obliged to create a culture that makes it possible to manage the difficulty. It also means that A. both HR and OSH professionals face the challenge of greatly widening the range of legislation they attend to B. the systems of training, assessment, chartering and CPDof both the CIPD and of IOSH need to be updated to reflect changes in legislation.

Posted By Jonathan Sandler CMIOSH Basicly jennifer you might wish to get INDG 232 Consulting employees on health and safety, good guidance, relevant? it might be. Regards