§ Mr. Ivan HendersonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the Government have done to meet the concerns of the plant and equipment hire industry over the introduction of the new Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. [62787]
§ Mr. MealeAs my hon. Friend knows, I met recently with the hon. Members for Banbury (Mr. Baldry) and for Eastleigh (Mr. Chidgey) and representatives of both hire and lease companies and the construction industry. I am grateful to the hon. Members for helping to facilitate what was a very useful meeting. I am grateful also to many Members of the House who have written to me about this issue and for the very helpful advice I received from the Health and Safety Commission. At the meeting we agreed a practical way forward within the law which is acceptable to the industry and which will allow companies to meet their duties. Representatives of the plant and equipment hire industry and other trade associations have 271W now agreed with HSE that hire companies should prepare an action plan in which they will identify the mobile work equipment that needs to be modified or adapted to comply with the new requirements of the Directive. They will also need to prioritise within the action plan the modifications which are needed, according to risk, and ensure that the new requirements are met.
Guidance has been produced for duty holders which explains what they will need to do to comply with Regulations 26 and 27 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. I will arrange for a copy of this guidance to be placed in the Library of this House.
I have asked the Health and Safety Commission to keep the situation under close review.