Posted By chris1595
Hi all,

In the uk under HSW Act there is a legal requirement for employers to have a health and safety policy (whether written or not as the case may be) and to set down the organization and arrangements for putting the policy into effect. MHSWR 1999 Reg (5) also requires effective health and safety arrangements (planning, organisation etc.).

MHSWR 1999 Reg (7) Requires the appointment of competent health and safety assistance whether internal or external.

My question is are these also a legal requirement in other EU member states?

The reason for asking is that a friend of mine asked the question as they have a purchasing tender evaluation system which includes the questions;

1. Do you have a health and safety policy?
2. Do you have an appointed health and safety advisor?

If the answer to either question is no then they do not proceed as they are legal requirements here. However, the question is would this still be the case with companies from outside the UK (but still EU member states). Do all companies from member states legally have to have a health and safety policy and competent health and safety assistance or are their health and safety act/regs different.

If the same legal requirements are in place then fine but if not, any suggestions as to alternative, fair (to all member state companies), but equally effective questions are more than welcome.

Regards

C.

Posted By chris1595
Hi,

Yes i do understand where the managemnet regs came from, the problem i have is how these have been translated into other EU member states health and safety legislation.

For example MHSWR reg 5 does not specifically ask for policy, asking instead for effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventative and protective measures (this is the UK version of the directive implementation). HSW Act does however ask specifically for employers to have a health and safety policy plus the organization and arrangements.

The question is do other EU member states ask specifically for employers to have a health and safety policy?

Also do they require companys to have competent health and safety assistance i.e. health and safety advisors/consultants? as is the case in the UK.

both of the questions in the tender evaluation are standard practice in the UK, but the question is would they be fair questions for EU wide tenders or need to be reworded?

Possibly a question for someone with or studying for a NEBOSH International Diploma?
or a health and safety proffesional with a strong european wide background?

Regards,

C.

Posted By Chris Packham
Chris

Your problem is that many EU countries have health and safety systems that differ widely from ours. For example, in Germany factors such as liability insurance, health and safety, etc. are largely handled by the industry sector insurance providers (Berufsgenossenschaften). They also monitor standards, investigate where an accident or health effect has been reported, decide whether this is occupational and on the compensation that is to be provided. The association of insurance providers even has its own academy that can provide diplomas!

So it is structured differently and simply asking the type of question you might ask in the U.K. would probably either not be understood or would generate an answer different from that you would get here.

Just to underline the differences I understand that it was only in the last 5 years that in Austria it became the responsibility of the employer to provide PPE, such as safety shoes free of charge to the employee!

I am sure that Merv will tell you that it is different again in France. My experience when I ran a training course on skin management some years ago in Spain for their health and safety authority was that they also had a very different approach.

Yes, there is a EU directive, but how it is interpreted varies widely from country to country. Level playing field? Hardly!

Chris