There are Regulations requiring employers to provide general information to employees and to consult representatives on health and safety matters.
Employers must display a poster or distribute leaflets giving general information about the requirements of health and safety law. Information must be provided on risks to which employees are exposed and the procedures to be taken in the event of danger.
Where there are union-appointed safety representatives the employer must consult them on health and safety matters affecting the employees they represent.
Where employees are not represented under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977, the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply and employers can choose to consult employees directly as individuals, or through elected health and safety representatives (known as "representatives of employee safety" in the Regulations), or a combination of the two.
The employer must provide the necessary information to enable the employees' safety representatives, or representatives of employee safety, to participate fully and effectively in the consultation. In the case of safety representatives, the information must also be sufficient to enable them to carry out their functions under the Regulations. These include:
The employer must ensure that each safety representative is provided with reasonable training, in respect of that representative's functions under the Regulations, for which the employer must pay.
The employer must also allow each representative such time off with pay (during working hours) as is necessary to enable them to undergo such training (or to perform their functions) and must allow similar time off to a candidate for election as a representative, in order to perform their functions as a candidate.
A representative or candidate has a right to complain to an employment tribunal if the employer fails to provide such paid time off.
