§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will impose a statutory maximum of 80 dB for exposure to noise at workplaces when he introduces the forthcoming noise regulations.
§ Mr. NichollsI expect the Health and Safety Commission to make proposals for new regulations on noise at workplaces, in the light of comments on its draft proposals published recently in a consultative document.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what estimate he has made of the extent of denial of the statutory right of safety representatives to paid leave from work to attend approved courses and to carry out their duties.
§ Mr. NichollsThe safety representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 provide for safety representatives to present a complaint to an industrial tribunal in the event of an employer's failure:
- (i) to permit a safety representative to take time off from work to carry out his functions under the regulations or to undergo training; or
- (ii) to pay a safety representative in accordance with the requirements of the regulations in the course of such time off.
The number of applications registered by industrial tribunals on these matters in the past five years is as follows:
Applications 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 (i) Failure to Permit Time Off 7 6 4 4 2 (ii) Failure to Pay for Time Off 13 4 2 1 1 Total 20 10 6 5 3 Information on the results of these applications could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether, in view of the hazard in shipyards 509W of dangerous staging; he will bring this work under the same controls as apply to scaffolding in the construction regulations.
§ Mr. NichollsNo. The existing provision in the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Shipbuilding and Ship-Repairing Regulations 1960 adequately provide for hazards in shipyards arising from the use of staging.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will take steps to ensure that advice booklets on workplace hazards are made more widely available and at a cost working people can afford.
§ Mr. NichollsThe Health and Safety Executive actively seeks every opportunity to publicise its extensive range of publications and to keep prices low. It publishes many leaflets and other material on workplace hazards free of charge.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make it his policy, in providing fuller inspection of building sites, to pay particular attention to unsafe scaffolding; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NichollsIt has been, and will continue to be, the policy of the Health and Safety Executive to pay particular attention to unsafe scaffolding during the inspection of building sites.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make it his policy that the Health and Safety Executive guidance note on hazardous substances be updated annually.
§ Mr. NichollsI understand that the hon. Member is referring to the Health and Safety Executive's "Guidance Note EH40 — Occupational Exposure Limits". This is already updated and published annually and there are no plans to change those arrangements.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he takes to monitor the extent to which employers carry out their statutory duty to have a regularly updated safety policy for their workplace.
§ Mr. NichollsInspectors of the Health and Safety Executive examine employers' safety policies as an integral part of HSE's enforcement of health and safety legislation. When necessary, inspectors require employers to update safety policies.
§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he is taking any measures to deal with the problem of safety on building sites where lump labour is employed.
§ Mr. NichollsThe Health and Safety Executive is currently giving priority to the control exercised by main contractors over all aspects of work carried out by subcontractors, including labour-only sub-contractors.