A guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989

Health and Safety

A guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989 Guidance on regulations

Health and Safety Executive L110 (Third edition, published 2012) A guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety You can buy the book at www.hsebooks.co.uk and bookshops. Committees) Regulations 1989

ISBN 978 0 7176 6493 1 Price £15.00

This guidance to the Offshore Regulations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989 is designed to advise people in the offshore industry on what the Regulations require, and what they need to do to comply with them. It’s a simple explanation of the main provisions of the Regulations to assist duty holders, employers, installation managers, safety representatives, Guidance on regulations safety committee members and all members of the workforce.

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© Crown copyright 2012

First published 1989 Reprinted 1992, 1997 Second edition 1998 Third edition 2012

ISBN 978 0 7176 6493 1

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This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance as illustrating good practice.

Contents

Preface 5 Introduction 7 Preliminary 8 Regulation 1 Citation and commencement 8 Regulation 2 Interpretation 8 Regulation 3 Application 9 Election of safety representatives etc 9 Regulation 4 Safety representatives 9 Regulation 5 Constituencies 10 Regulation 6 Membership of constituency 12 Regulation 7 Elections 13 Regulation 8 Nominations 13 Regulation 9 Candidates 13 Regulation 10 List of candidates 14 Regulation 11 Secret ballot 14 Regulation 12 Results 15 Regulation 13 No candidate 15 Regulation 14 Cessation of representation 16 Regulation 15 Safety representatives for single-employer constituencies 16 Regulation 16 Functions of safety representatives 18 Regulation 17 Powers of safety representatives 19 Regulation 18 Documents 23 Regulation 18A 23 Safety committees 24 Regulation 19 Safety committee – establishment 24 Regulation 20 Membership of safety committee 25 Regulation 21 Safety committee – meetings 25 Regulation 22 Safety committee – functions 26

Installation owners, installation managers and employers 28 Regulation 23 Duties of installation operators and owners, and employers 28 Regulation 24 Information 29 Regulation 25 Documents 30 Regulation 26 Time off 30 Regulation 27 Training 32 Miscellaneous 34 Regulation 28 Offences 34 Regulation 29 Exercise of functions 35 Appendix 1 Protection against victimisation on health and safety grounds 36 Appendix 2 Summary of steps in the election process 38 Appendix 3 Recommended procedures for thesecret ballot 40 Further information 41

Preface

This guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989 No 971, as amended) is designed to help people in the offshore industry understand what the Regulations require, and what they need to do to comply with them. It is a simple explanation of the main provisions of the Regulations to assist duty holders, employers, installation managers, safety representatives, safety committee members and all members of the workforce.

This guidance supersedes and replaces the guidance notes produced by the Department of Energy in 1989 (ISBN 0 11 885738 X; reprinted by HSE in 1992). It has been prepared following consultation with representatives of offshore industry employer associations and trade unions representing offshore workers. When the Regulations were introduced, they were enforced by the Department of Energy but they are now enforced by HSE. No comment is offered where the Regulations are self-explanatory, but some suggested ways of complying with the Regulations are included.

Relationships with other legislation

The Regulations in this guidance incorporate amendments made since the Regulations first came into force on 18 September 1989. The amendments were made by the following legislation:

(a) the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No 2885); (b) the Offshore Safety (Repeals and Modifications) Regulations 1993 (SI 1993 No 1823); (c) the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 (SI 1995 No 738); (d) the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 (SI 1995 No 743); and (e) the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (SI 1995 No 3163).

The text of the Regulations appearing in this book incorporates all of the amendments current at the time of printing. The guidance reflects the effects of these changes.

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act), sections 2 and 3, places general duties on employers to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their undertaking.

The following publications contain other HSE guidance which may be helpful:

A guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005. Guidance on Regulations L30 (Third edition) HSE Books 2006 ISBN 978 0 7176 6184 8

Play your part: how offshore workers can improve health and safety Booklet INDG421 HSE Books 2008 (priced packs ISBN 978 0 7176 6286 9) www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg421.pdf

A guide to the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 L70 (Second edition) HSE Books 2002 ISBN 978 0 7176 2572 7 www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l70.htm

Introduction

1 Everyone who works on an offshore installation, or is associated with its activities, has a role to play in ensuring health and safety. Although the primary responsibility for healthy and safe working conditions on an offshore installation rests with the duty holder (in these Regulations, the operator of a fixed installation and the owner of a mobile installation) and with employers, all members of the workforce must play their part if risks are to be eliminated or minimised.

2 The Regulations allow members of the offshore installation workforce to elect safety representatives from among their number. It also allows for the formation of a safety committee on the installation. The purpose of the Regulations is to ensure that the whole workforce is formally involved in promoting health and safety, through freely elected safety representatives and a safety committee. The Regulations do not in any way reduce the primary responsibilities of duty holders and other employers.

3 Co-operation between duty holders, other employers, installation managers and the workforce is essential, and should be encouraged when applying the Regulations:

(a) installation managers should actively encourage the election and involvement of safety representatives; (b) the workforce should co-operate with duty holders, employers and installation managers in securing improvements to avoid accidents and ill health; and (c) the safety committee should be seen as having an essential role in considering both day-to-day and strategic health and safety issues on the installation.

4 Every effort should be made to ensure that safety committees are provided with the necessary information and resources to function effectively, and that proper account is taken of their recommendations.

5 No safety representative should be disadvantaged by fulfilling their functions or exercising their powers (see also Appendix 1, which describes the legal position in this area). The duty holder should pay particular attention to the business of the safety committee and matters arising from its meetings.

6 The proper training of safety representatives is of vital importance. It enables them to represent their constituents effectively and to exercise good judgement in fulfilling their functions and using their powers.

Preliminary

Regulation 1 Regulation 1 Citation and commencement These Regulations may be cited as the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989 and shall come into force on 18th September 1989.

Regulation 2 Regulation 2 Interpretation In these Regulations –

“the 1974 Act” means the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974;

“the 1995 Regulations” means the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995;

“appropriate languages” in relation to any information to be displayed on the installation under these Regulations means English and such other languages as are necessary to enable the information to be understood by all persons on the installation who may need to refer to it;

“duty holder” in relation to an offshore installation means the person who is the duty holder within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations for the purpose of those Regulations;

Guidance 2 7 The ‘duty holder’ is the operator in the case of a fixed installation (including fixed production and storage units); and the owner in the case of a mobile installation.

Regulation 2 “elected” includes being declared the safety representative for a constituency under regulation 12 below by virtue of being the only candidate duly nominated for that position;

“employed” means employed or engaged under a contract of service or for services and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

“installation manager” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations;

Guidance 2 8 The installation manager is a competent person appointed by the duty holder to manage the installation on the duty holder’s behalf. The manager is normally responsible to the duty holder for the day-to-day management of the offshore installation, and is in charge of the health, safety and welfare of people on or about the installation.

Regulation 2 “occupational health and safety” means the health and safety of the workforce while on or working from an installation and while boarding or leaving it;

“the prescribed period” means the period of five weeks or such shorter period as is reasonably practicable to make representations, or nominations, or to vote as the case may be;

Guidance 2 9 Elections have to take place within a timetable, set out in the Regulations, which allows the whole workforce to take part, bearing in mind crew changing requirements. The term ‘prescribed period’ is used in the Regulations to set time limits on the various steps. A period of five weeks has been set in order to reflect crew changing cycles, which vary from installation to installation. Five weeks is a maximum period, to take account of those installations with long crew changing cycles.

10 The ‘prescribed period’ can and should be reduced on installations with short crew change cycles, in order to cut down the overall election timetable. Significantly shorter periods may be particularly appropriate for mobile, single-employer constituency elections (see regulation 15 and paragraphs 45-51 in this guidance), where the employer’s team is scheduled to be on the installation only for a relatively short time. It is important to ensure that, as far as possible, all constituency members (except those who are unavailable, for example absent due to sickness, holidays or training) should take part.

Regulation 2 “a week” means any period of seven days;

“workforce” includes every person who is for the time being working on or from an offshore installation under a contract of service or a contract for services, other than the installation manager, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons.

Regulation 3 Regulation 3 Application These Regulations shall apply to an offshore installation at a working station in controlled waters which normally has persons on board.

Guidance 3 11 The Regulations apply to any normally attended offshore installation which is at a working station in controlled waters (ie Great Britain tidal waters, territorial waters and the United Kingdom Continental Shelf). They apply on drilling rigs, staffed production platforms, accommodation installations and floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs). The general principle is that each installation has its own health and safety issues, and that the workforce should be involved in dealing with these issues at their workplace. The Regulations apply to all such installations, regardless of the number of people permanently on board. This includes installations under construction or those being dismantled on station, but not those in transit.

Election of safety representatives etc

Regulation 4 Regulation 4 Safety representatives The workforce shall be entitled to nominate and elect safety representatives in accordance with the following provisions of these Regulations.

Regulation 5 Regulation 5 Constituencies (1) The installation manager shall establish and thereafter, in consultation with any safety committee established in accordance with regulation 19 below, maintain for the purposes of these Regulations a system of constituencies, which shall be established by reference to one or more of the following factors –

(a) the areas of the offshore installation, (b) the activities undertaken on or from the installation, (c) the employers of members of the workforce, and (d) other objective criteria which appear to the installation manager to be appropriate to the circumstances of the installation.

(2) The system of constituencies shall be such that –

(a) there shall be at least two constituencies; (b) every member of the workforce can be assigned to a constituency; and (c) the number of persons who may at any time be assigned to a constituency shall not exceed forty and shall be no fewer than three.

(3) In determining the number of persons to be assigned to a constituency the installation manager shall have regard, in particular, to the nature of the work undertaken by the members of the constituency and the hazards related thereto.

Guidance 5 12 This regulation describes the system of constituencies to be established for electing safety representatives. The purpose of dividing the workforce into constituencies is to provide for appropriate groupings of the workforce from which safety representatives can be elected.

13 An upper limit of 40 people to a constituency is set to ensure a sufficient number of safety representatives and an appropriate spread of safety representatives across an installation. An installation, however small the permanent workforce, may not have less than two constituencies.

14 The working arrangements, and number of people on board, vary widely from installation to installation. The Regulations give the installation manager a considerable degree of flexibility in setting up the system of constituencies. The Regulations set out a number of factors which the installation manager must take into account when determining the size and composition of each constituency.

15 The division into constituencies should be as natural as possible. The objectives of the division should be that constituency members generally know each other, are familiar with common hazards and will be able easily to identify with the group. Examples of natural constituencies might therefore include:

(a) geographical - related to the part of the installation where members normally work; (b) functional - related to the type of work done by members; or (c) employment based - related to the employer of the members.

16 The system of constituencies might, of course, include a combination of these approaches. For example, constituencies might be based on: administration; production; drilling floor; catering and accommodation; maintenance; divers; employees of major long-term construction contractors; and/or employees of a single employer. Consideration might also be given to having a separate constituency for supervisors.

Guidance 5 17 On larger installations, constituencies may need to be divided where they cover large numbers. On a smaller installation, constituency divisions may need to be on a broader basis to ensure that they are of a workable size. Shift patterns and crew changing arrangements should also be taken into account when establishing the system. The aim should be to ensure that there are always sufficient numbers of safety representatives on the installation.

Regulation 5 (4) The installation manager shall signify the establishment or modification of a constituency by ensuring the posting in appropriate languages at suitable places on the installation so that they can easily be read by all members of the workforce of –

(a) particulars of the establishment or modification of the constituency; and (b) subject to paragraph (7) below, notice that the installation manager will consider any representations with regard to such particulars as may be made to him within the prescribed period commencing with the date of their posting in accordance with paragraph (5) below.

(5) Subject to paragraph (7) below, representations may be made by any member of the workforce and, if the constituency is intended to be comprised exclusively of persons employed by the same employer, that employer.

(6) If any representations are made to him in accordance with paragraph (4) (b) above, the installation manager shall forthwith consider them, and if he considers that they necessitate amendment of the particulars referred to in paragraph (4)(a) above he shall ensure that amended particulars in appropriate languages are posted at suitable places as prescribed at paragraph (4) above.

Guidance 5 18 Consultation is an important part of the process of establishing constituencies. The installation manager must post up details of the constituencies. Any member of the workforce, or any employee where there is a single-employer constituency, can make representations, which the installation manager must consider before going ahead. Any changes must then be posted up.

Regulation 5 (7) When an installation manager proposes to establish a constituency and there is in existence on the installation a safety committee established under regulation 19 below, paragraphs (4)(b), (5) and (6) above shall not apply but the installation manager shall consult the safety committee and if the constituency is intended to be comprised exclusively of persons employed by the same employer, that employer.

Guidance 5 19 Once a safety committee has been established, one of its functions (under regulation 22) is to keep the system of constituencies under review so as to ensure adequate representation of the workforce on health and safety matters.

20 If the installation manager wishes to create new constituencies, they must consult the safety committees. However, rather than consulting on each and every occasion a change is proposed, safety committees and installation managers may prefer to establish a general policy for guiding the creation of new or modified constituencies.

21 Where two or more installations are temporarily bridge linked (such as production and accommodation