Hi All,

Would like to seek for an advice because I relocated to the UK a year ago and keeping up to date with legal requirements is difficult because I'm still adjusting to the change from the UAE to the UK.

I noticed various subscriptions, such as Barbour; do individual H&S professionals in the UK subscribe to any of these sites? I noticed one for £50 per month, but I'm not sure if it's worth it, and do you pay for it through your company or on your own?

I know we can look it up on the HSE website, but having one location where you can find everything would make job easier and could use the time focusing on implementation.:)

Thanks!

F.

Hi F

I'm with AK on this. 

The LEGISLATION doesn't change much - lots of guidance does.

We used to subscribe to an online source of health and safety information which was relatively comprehensive but we used it mostly for access to British Standards and guidance on specialist topics more than a source of up to date information.

The company then broadened our subscription to provide access for all staff across a range of disciplines, which meant that I could get access to yet more British Standards, OTHER than one I might often have wanted to use - the one on electrical installations due to a shared copyright issue.

But, if it is legislation you are concerned about there are plenty of ways of getting the information for free.

If you want access to the case law on legislation, then may be a copy of Redgrave's Health and Safety at Work and not necessarily the latest edition. My default is STILL the 1976 edition when it was called Redgrave's Health and Safety in Factories.

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 was so new that in Redgrave it was relegated to the second division behind the Factories Act 1961!!

The point here is that almost all the important case law is many decades old, so my 1976 book is fine.

I also have the 2000 edition - same number of pages (about 2000) but the pages are larger; conversely the font size for the text on case law is smaller so it's much easier to find and read the case law in the older edition!

You want to know about the case law on "reasonably practicable" and "practicable"? - easy - go to Sections 4 and 63 (BOTH repealed) of the Factories Act in Redgrave 1976.

You want to know about the case law that doesn't yet exist as to how to interpret "construction work" in the CDM Regulations? - easy - go to Section 176 (also repealed) of the Factories Act in Redgrave 1976 as the definition of "construction work" derives almost entirely from the definitions of "building operation" and "work of engineering construction" and there was PLENTY of case law on what was or was not a "building operation".

So, go online, look for Redgrave as a second hand book, and don't pay maybe £250 for the latest edition!!! But be prepared to pick up a well thumbed book!