§ Mr. Cryer asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what criteria were employed by the Health and Safety Commission in selecting the bodies to he consulted on the proposed Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations; if he will list those consulted and indicate the nature of the objections received; and if he will make a statement;
§ (2) why the Civil Aviation Authority was excluded from consultations on the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.
§ Mr. Waddington:As required by section 50(3)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974, the Health and Safety Commission directly consulted on the proposed 213W first aid regulations those bodies which appeared to it to be appropriate. Direct consultation, mainly carried out through representative bodies, was thus restricted to those bodies which would be principally affected by the proposals and professional bodies which could make a specialist contribution. These are listed below.
The Health and Safety Commission did not consider it appropriate to consult directly the Civil Aviation Authority on the proposed regulations. It was not possible to consult directly every body with an interest because of the wide application of the proposed regulations but a public consultative document was issued and received wide publicity, and any organisation or individual was free to comment. 13,000 copies of the document were sold and over 200 comments received. The main objections received on the proposed regulations concerned the scope of first aid treatment, the responsibility of employers for persons on their premises who were not their own employees and the application of the regulations to certain industries and activities.
List of organisations consulted
- Confederation of British Industry
- Trades Union Congress
- Government Departments
- Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries
- Cabinet Office
- Civil Service Department
- Ministry of Defence
- Department of Education and Science
- Department of Employment
- Department of Energy
- Department of the Environment
- Department of Health and Social Security
- Home Office
- Department of Industry
- Lord Chancellor's Office
- Scottish Office
- Department of Trade
- Department of Transport
- Her Majesty's Treasury
- Welsh Office
- Northern Ireland Health and Safety Agency
- Local Authority Associations
- Association of County Councils
- Association of District Councils
- Association of Metropolitan Authorities
- Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
- Nationalised Industries
- British National Oil Corporation
- National Coal Board
- Employers and Trade Associations (not members of CBI)
- Conference of Medical and Surgical Adhesive Plaster Manufacturers
- Federation of Small Mines of Great Britain
- Scottish Pharmaceutical Federation
- Trade Unions and other work people's organisations (not affiliated to the TUC)
- Federation of Ambulance Personnel
- General Federation of Trade Unions
- Other bodies
- Birmingham Accident Hospitals
- Birmingham University
- British Medical Association
- British Red Cross Society
- British Safety Council
- Central Middlesex Industrial Health Service Ltd.
- Faculty of Occupational Medicine
- Greater London Council
- Harlow Industrial Health Service Ltd.
- Inner London Education Authority
- Institute of Personnel Management
- Institution of Industrial Safety Officers
- Leeds University
- National Pharmaceutical Union
- Royal College of Nursing
- Royal Life Saving Society
214 - Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
- St. Andrew's Ambulance Association
- St. John Ambulance Association and Brigade
- Society of Occupational Medicine
- University of Newcastle upon Tyne
- West Midlands Industrial Health Service Ltd.