Does anyone have any idea what the legal time scale for Health and safety meetings with union/employee reps is?. We try to have these meetings every 1-2 months, is it possible to have them less frequently then this or is this time scale correct?.

There is no legislation that states the frequency of safety committee meetings. There is however guidance provided in the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (as amended). This is taken directly from L146 – Consultation ACOP “90 Health and safety committees should meet as often as necessary. The frequency of meetings will depend on the volume of business, which in turn is likely to depend on local conditions, the size of the workplace, numbers employed, the kind of work carried out and the degree of inherent risk. Sufficient time should be allowed during each meeting to ensure full discussion of all business. 91 Meetings should not be cancelled or postponed except in very exceptional circumstances. Where postponement is absolutely necessary, an agreed date for the next meeting should be made and announced as soon as possible. 92 The dates of the meetings should be arranged well in advance as far as possible, even to the extent of planning a programme six months or a year ahead. In these circumstances all members of the committee should be sent a personal copy of the programme giving the dates of the meetings. Notices of the dates of meetings should also be published where all employees can see them. A copy of the agenda and any accompanying papers should be sent to all committee members at least one week before each meeting.” Hope this helps Phil W

Ill take the 3 months as a rule of thumb but will stick to 2 months.That is great thanks for the information.

So you can deduce that 3 month intervals is minimum if requested by Reps.

Of course it is, but it seems a good place to start when initiating consultations with the recognised TUs. At least that was a very common approach back in the late 70s when most large organisations were coming to terms with these regs. Certainly that was the case in the oganisations I was involved with at that time. And, as the HSE guidance says, "Union appointed safety representatives can carry out inspections every three months. It is good practice to plan these together in advance. You may want to arrange committee meetings around the same time as these inspections, so you take up matters promptly". Of course this should not be set in stone but varied (in consultation with the TUs) according to need.

Our sites hold safety committee meetings every 6 months. This seems to work well, however it's worth pointing out that our sites work in a non-unionised environment.