Note: Under Section 50(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSW), the duty to consult applies only to proposals involving relevant statutory provisions of HSW. Such provisions include the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, but not the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997. For the purposes of this consultation exercise, however, Ministers have agreed that the Health and Safety Commission consult on their behalf on the proposals to amend the 1997 Regulations.

Comments should be sent to:

John Price
Health and Safety Executive
Strategy Division, 8SW, Rose Court
2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS

Tel: 020 7717 6673
Fax: 020 7717 6417
e-mail: john.price@hse.gsi.gov.uk

to reach him no later than 14 March 2002

Summary
This document invites views on proposals to amend:

the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR);
the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (FPRegs).
The proposals focus on the so-called 'civil liability exclusion', which applies to both MHSWR and the FPRegs. It is proposed to remove the exclusion, from both sets of Regulations, for breach of statutory duty towards employees. This would allow an employee to bring a claim for damages against their employer, for injury or illness they had suffered as a result of their employer's failure to comply with MHSWR or the FPRegs. A right to bring a damages claim following a workplace fatality as a result of an employer's failure to comply with MHSWR or the FPRegs would also be available (to the employee's estate) if the exclusion were removed. In this document all references to injury or illness should be read as including death as well.

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updated 29th January 2002