Is it true? Was it all a dream? Are we leaving or have we left? Brexit was on the top of everyone’s agenda, on everyone’s list, now it isn’t. Now its not spoken about. The problem is that as the date of ‘uncoupling’ draws near we have to look at our legal framework and access its viability, separate from that of Europe. Much of our legislation is local (made and appertaining to England and Wales) but it has taken its lead from European directives for decades now and without that steer we need to decide in what direction we are travelling and how best to maintain the legislation we already have in place. One would think that we will still take our lead from Europe but then it would not automatically cascade down through the UK Courts and into UK Law. We have the right to not action any new standards or Regulations. It is a bold step to move away from this process and the minute the divergence starts we could be seen as walking away from maintaining the highest standards in health and safety and to a position where we cherry-pick any changes to the law depending on other influences such as industry pressure or vested interest. It may be that we form some kind of standing committee to look at and make recommendations for change but still a government would not automatically have to act on those recommendations and after a few years of walking our own path we may find ourselves in a totally different place than our European counterparts. Some might argue that our friends in the European Community have long since moved away from us in the way they have interpreted or enacted the European Directives and that they have been less than genuine in their enforcement of these standards. The case in point being machinery made and sold in a European State arrives in the UK with a Certificate of Conformity allegedly complying with all European safety law and yet is not even properly guarded. So the reality of pan-European health and safety is very different from that portrayed in the Legislation.
Martin Blythe,Director