Quick question, I hope you can help confirm something for me please. I am updating our HAVs guidance, someone has previously inserted a section saying that if emergency works need to take place (e.g. a tree has fallen into the road and needs cutting up/removing) then it is ok to exceed the ELV. It goes on to say no employees should exceed the ELV in the course of "normal work". My understanding is the only exemptions under the regs are the Emergency Services, MoD and air transport. and even then you have to apply to the HSE for exemption. I do not think what we have in our guidance is acceptable. I would be grateful for any comments/advice you might have please.

Lisa has the right of it. The "exemptions" in the Regs are not what you should be looking at, they are for organisations not activities. The key is, sorry to state the obvious, your risk assessment which should use the ELV information available elsewhere to assess the exposure profile for identified activities to determine the right controls. So, I think in principle your guidance is right, in emergency situations where you are trying to mitigate a significant / imminent risk the operator can exceed the exposure but not indefinitely!