Health and Safety Commission consults on its Draft Policy Statement on Permissioning Regimes

HSE Press Release C039:02 - 12 September 2002

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has launched a public consultation on its policy on the use of permissioning regimes such as nuclear, railways, gas distribution and offshore oil and gas.

Vic Coleman, head of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) division leading the review for the HSC, said:

"HSC has produced this draft policy statement to increase transparency and understanding of its approach to regulating high hazard industries through the use of permissioning regimes.

"The draft policy statement addresses many of the questions raised by respondents to the discussion document - 'Regulating higher hazards: exploring the issues' - published in 2000. In particular it covers the call for greater clarity on the reasons behind decisions to impose permissioning regimes. The draft policy statement goes wider than the discussion document and will cover any new permissioning regimes which may be proposed or operated by HSC which feature the preparation of safety cases or safety reports and licensing."

Permissioning regimes are an addition to the general framework of health and safety law and will only be considered where the work activities involve exceptional hazard, risk or public concern. HSC will only take the decision to propose a new permissioning regime to ministers after serious consideration and by applying the principles described in the draft policy statement. In doing so, HSC will endeavour to anticipate hazards arising from new work activities that may cause concern in future.

The consultative letter and draft policy statement can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/condocs/cl001.htm

After the 12-week consultation period, the responses will be considered by HSC and a final policy statement will be issued. HSC and HSE will use it as a benchmark when reviewing existing regimes. The policy statement will be reviewed regularly to ensure it continues to reflect the thinking and philosophy of HSC in this matter.

Notes to editors

1. High hazard industries include activities such as nuclear, railways, offshore, onshore, Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) sites, gas distribution, the use of genetically modified organisms, asbestos stripping, explosive manufacture and storage and petroleum storage.
2. This draft policy statement explains the philosophy adopted by HSC and HSE in regulating health and safety in high hazard industries through the use of permissioning regimes. It describes the approach to those regimes for which HSC is directly responsible. The draft policy statement builds on the outcomes from the discussion document 'Regulating higher hazards: Exploring the issues' (DDE15) published in September 2000 and also on the recommendations of Lord Cullen's part 2 report into the Ladbroke Grove rail incident published in September 2001.
3. HSC's general approach to regulating health and safety, as set out in HSE's document 'Reducing risks, protecting people' (R2P2), is broadly risk-based, with a spectrum of possible controls from reliance on general duties to introducing "process" regulations, which set administrative requirements for the management of risks rather than specifying risk control goals for particular hazards.
4. We will propose process regulations generally as a last resort because they are resource intensive for both duty holders and the safety regulator and it is a matter of principle to introduce a greater degree of regulatory intervention only where a lesser degree will not suffice.

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