黑洞社区

The Health and Safety Executive has recommended to government that regulations covering the safety of tower cranes should be scrapped as part of a move to revoke 13 health and safety regulations.

The HSE said its board had agreed proposals to revoke a number of regulations as part of HSE鈥檚 programme of work to make the health and safety system easier to understand to help increase levels of compliance.

In a statement the HSE said: 鈥淔ollowing consideration of consultation responses and HSE鈥檚 expert views, the board agreed to recommend the revocation of 13 of the 14 legislative measures put to them, agreeing that they can be removed without any compromise on health and safety.

鈥淭his is because they duplicate protections found in other more recent regulations, are redundant or do not deliver the intended benefits.

鈥淭he Board stressed the importance of engaging with employers and employees to ensure that there is a clear understanding that the required standards remain the same and that the changes will simply remove duplication of regulation.

鈥淭he Board has asked for additional information on the work that is being undertaken to maintain standards if the Docks Regulations 1988 are removed and will make a decision on whether to recommend revocation once this has been provided.

鈥淎ll recommendations will go to the minister for decision in due course.鈥�

The recommendations include abolishing the crane register, which has been in place for two-and-a-half years requires firms to notify it of tower cranes they erect and confirm that they have been thoroughly examined.

It was established following a campaign, supported by 黑洞社区, to increase crane safety after a tower crane in Battersea collapsed killing two men.

The HSE鈥檚 board report said the board had made the recommendation to abolish the crane register despite there being 鈥渘o overall clear majority either in favour, or against鈥� the move to revoke the regulations following a consultation on the proposal earlier this year.

The HSE鈥檚 consultation on abolishing the regulation received 86 responses but it said arguments for keeping the regulation 鈥渞epresent assertion of the perceived benefits of the regulations and its associated register more than evidence for what the benefits actually are鈥�.