NEW HSC POLICY STATEMENT ON PERMISSIONING REGIMES

C007:03 25 March 2003

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has announced its policy on regulating high hazard industries such as nuclear, railways, offshore installations and major hazards sites, through the use of permissioning regimes.

The new HSC policy statement on permissioning regimes addresses the issues raised by stakeholders responding to the consultation exercise last year (12 September to 6 December 2002) and builds on the outcomes from the Discussion Document published in September 2000.

Vic Coleman, head of the Health and Safety Executive division leading on this work for the HSC said:

"We want to ensure our approach to permissioning regimes is open, transparent and clear. Therefore it is important we explain exactly what is involved in permissioning regimes. In simple terms a permissioning regime requires certain hazardous work activities, to have some form of "permission " from the safety regulator before operations can start or continue. That "permission" might be a consent, license, letter of conclusion or acceptance of a safety case or safety report by the safety regulator.

"That means a duty holder cannot operate or carry out work activities without documenting the hazards, risks and control measures to the satisfaction of the safety regulator. Overall this provides added assurance that risks will be properly controlled while recognising that no system can guarantee safety".

The policy statement formally sets out for the first time the Commission's approach to permissioning regimes. Permissioning will only be considered where the work activities involve significant hazard, risk or public concern such as where there are risks of multiple fatalities from a single or linked series of events and or there are widespread and significant adverse effects on human health.

The 10 principles underpinning this policy statement cover specific elements of the permissioning process. They explain how, when and why the Commission will propose a regime to Ministers, what it will achieve, the role of the duty holder and safety regulator and what duty holders can do if they are unhappy with the safety regulator's refusal to give "permission" to carry out its operations.

Vic Coleman added: "When reviewing existing permissioning regimes we will compare them against the principles described in this policy statement to ensure they remain fit for purpose. The policy statement will be kept under review to ensure it reflects HSC's evolving experience of operating permissioning regimes."

Notes to editors

1. High hazard industries covered by this policy statement include nuclear installations, railways, offshore installations, onshore major hazard sites, work with genetically modified organisms, gas distribution, work with asbestos, explosive manufacture and storage and keeping of petrol.

2. This is HSC's own policy statement. It describes the approach taken on those regimes for which HSE are directly responsible, which may differ from other agencies and regulators.

3. HSC will only propose permissioning regulations generally as a last resort because they are resource intensive for both duty holders and the safety regulator. A greater degree of regulatory intervention will only be introduced where a lesser degree will not suffice. HSC will propose a new permissioning regime to Ministers only after serious consideration and by applying the principles described in this policy statement.

4. This policy statement is designed for those with some involvement and understanding of the permissioning regime process and for those wishing to gain an understanding of what is involved.

5. The policy statement takes account of responses to the consultation exercise held 12 September until 6 December 2002 (CD185) and builds on the outcomes from the Discussion Document "Regulating higher hazards: Exploring the issues (DDE15) published in September 2000.

6. HSE will be looking into holding joint HSE/industry conferences or seminars to provide a fuller explanation of what is involved in permissioning regimes.

7.http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/index.htm is the website for the document

Press enquiries

All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office