Releasing information to safety representatives

Employers have a responsibility to provide information to all workers that will enable them to participate fully and effectively in any consultation about their health and safety.

Information can be provided in whatever form is most suitable, as long as it can be understood by everyone. Employers may need to make special arrangements for employees who do not understand English very well, who cannot read or who have a condition that means they need to be given information in different ways.

The information should include:

• procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency, including the contact details of the people nominated by the employer to help with the implementation of those procedures;
• information about the risks the employees (and others) may face, and the measures which have been put in place to ensure that the workforce is protected including any risks notified by another employer with whom a workplace is shared;
• safety data sheets providing information from designers, manufacturers or suppliers of any article or substance which is being used or is proposed to be used.

Safety representatives are also entitled to see copies of any document that employers must keep under health and safety law, for example the important findings of risk assessments or information relating to occurrences of any accident, dangerous occurrence or notifiable industrial disease.

Safety representatives must be given information necessary for them to fulfil their functions, such as:

• information on any proposed changes to current working practices which may affect the health and safety at work of their employees;
• technical information about hazards to health and safety and the necessary precautions to stop or minimise them;
• information on equipment, materials or substances which an employer issues to homeworkers;
• the results of any action taken by the employer in the course of checking the effectiveness of their health and safety arrangements.

Accident book

Safety representatives are legally entitled to inspect records of accidents that employers have to keep under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). The Accident Book BI510 is a valuable document that organisations can use to record accident information as part of their management of health and safety.

A tick box is included on each page of the Accident Book asking whether the injured person gives his or her consent to the disclosure of the information contained in that record to safety representatives.

The employer should:

• if the injured person has ticked the tick box (and signed the form), disclose the information contained in the accident record, so far as it relates to the injured person, to safety representatives and/or representatives of employee safety;
• anonymise the information if the injured person does not tick the tick box and disclose it to safety representatives and/or representatives of employee safety.

The arrangements to pass on this information should be discussed between employers, employees and/or their representatives. The aim should be to make the best possible use of this (and other) information to meet health and safety objectives. By following this approach you and your employer will not be infringing the Data Protection Act (DPA) or confidentiality law.