EU Framework and Workplace Directives

HC Deb 29 July 1997 vol 299 cc151-3W

Gillian Merron

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the implementation of the general fire safety aspects of the EU framework and workplace directives. [11817]

Mr. George Howarth

After consulting my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, I announced on 16 July that we proposed to implement the outstanding fire safety elements of the European community framework and workplace directives. Today, I have signed and laid before Parliament the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 made under the European Communities Act 1972 to apply throughout Great Britain. A compliance cost assessment is attached to the regulations showing that the estimated costs to employers attributable to these regulations will be less than £30 million. I have placed copies of these documents in the Library. To assist employers, there will be a package of user-friendly guidance comprising a handy, free card summarising the regulations and employers' rights and a short booklet, both of which will be widely available.

The regulations take into account the views expressed in the many responses received during the consultation exercise carried out last year and the representations received since then from business interests and the fire service. I am grateful to business and fire service representatives for the assistance they have given to my officials during the drafting of the regulations and supporting guidance.

Where appropriate, the regulations have been drafted using copy-out language. This ensures that there is full compliance with the directives but that no unnecessary costs are imposed on business.

The regulations put the primary responsibility for fire safety in the workplace on employers. It is for them to determine and provide the measures they believe to be necessary to meet the risk from fire identified in their premises. In this way, what is provided will be appropriate to the risks and tailored to the specific circumstances of the workplace. The regulations incorporate a new approach to fire safety enforcement. Most significant breaches of the regulations can be dealt with by civil sanctions with the onus of proof on the fire authority rather than the employer.

However, to emphasise the importance of fire safety, criminal sanctions will remain for serious risks.

The regulations include some of the user-friendly enforcement safeguards of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994. They will be enforced by the fire authority, who will use the employer's own assessment of the risk from fire as a starting point. The fire service have an important role to play. It will offer employers advice and assistance in meeting their obligations and avoiding over-provision.

The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations will come into effect in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 December 1997 and will make explicit what is already implicit in United Kingdom law. In light of the existing general duties of care employers owe to their staff, business should, for the most part, already have in place what these regulations require of them. As standards of fire safety in the workplace are already generally high in Great Britain, most businesses will have little to do and this is reflected in the total estimated compliance costs of less than £30 million. This is significantly lower than the previous estimate—more than £1.7 billion—associated with earlier drafts of the regulations.