§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the reason for delay in introducing regulations for the marking of all vehicles carrying hazardous loads on British roads; whether the original 547W proposal that the minimum load requiring such marking should be 500 kilos has been abandoned, and for what reason; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EyreStatutory requirements for the marking of road vehicles carrying certain dangerous substances have been in force for a number of years. Regulations made in 1981 consolidated existing requirements for hazard warning panels to be displayed by road tankers and extended them to vehicles transporting large tank-containers. Proposals for regulations to extend requirements to vehicles carrying packaged dangerous substances are being prepared by the Health and Safety Executive. These are taking rather longer than expected because of the difficulty of reaching agreement on provisions which will provide an adequate standard of safety yet avoid unnecessary burdens on industry in the very wide variety of operations to which these regulations would apply. No decision has yet been made on the scope of these regulations. The Health and Safety Commission will publish a consultative document as soon as this preparatory work can be completed.