March 2021 Additional Monthly Blog – Legal registers
Who needs them?
Arinite’s page on Health and Safety Legislation lists 35 key pieces of H&S law, one classified as an “Act”, one as an “Order” the others as “Regulations”.
Many of them, or if you are unlucky enough all of them, will apply to your workplace – however this is only the tip of the iceberg. The Health & Safety Executive website lists more than 100 Statutory Instruments owned and enforced by HSE/local authorities.
One of the cruelties of our UK legal system is that “ignorance is no defence”, and business managers are expected to be conversant with every last nugget of law that applies to their business – including financial law, marketing, employment legislation, tax, weights & measures, customs, product liability, and so forth.
What’s the best way to eat an elephant?
To borrow an old cliché, the best way to eat an elephant is in pieces, so the best way to digest this mountain of legislation is in steady, methodical steps.
Start by compiling – or asking your H&S expert to compile - a legal register.
Indeed, if your company wants to apply for ISO 45001 Occupational Health And Safety, this is an essential requisite. The register should also contain a brief description of why, or how, the legislation relates to your company activities.
ISO 45001 Clause 6.1.3 Determination of legal requirements and other requirements states:
“The organisation shall establish, implement and maintain a processes to determine and have access to up-to-date legal requirements and other requirements that are applicable to its hazards, OH&S risks and OH&S management system, determine how these legal requirements and other requirements apply to the organisation and what needs to be communicated, take these legal requirements and other requirements into account when establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving its OH&S management system.
“The organisation shall maintain and retain documented information on its legal requirements and other requirements and shall ensure it is updated to reflect any changes.”
The Benefits
Arinite clients are granted access to our Factsheets, of which Factsheet 0227 - H&S Management - Legal Registers illustrates the following benefit of a legal register:
- Improve efficiency, helps reduce costly mistakes.
- Often used as part of management systems aligned with international standards such as ISO 14001 (environmental legal registers), OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001 (health and safety legal registers) and ISO 27001 (information security legal registers).
- A valuable tool when preparing for a compliance audit, organising training courses and creating an emergency plan.
- Encourages an organisation to determine its level of compliance and consequently target areas where improvement is required.
- Helps justify the allocation of resources.
- Evidence of the organisation’s commitment to a high standard of health and safety management performance.
- Centralises the information on legal requirements and thus simplifies the task of updating the organisation’s legal responsibilities.
Internationally
Brexit notwithstanding, Britain has long been a hub for multinational companies setting up EMEA headquarters here.
There are efficiency savings to be made by standardising procedures across your company’s different locations, to which health & safety is no exception.
It therefore makes sense for your legal register to contain sub-sections dealing with the various countries in which you operate – you just need to become a little more savvy at researching the relevant laws in each land.
Freshen Up
It goes without saying that your legal register must be kept up to date
Make a diary note for someone to review it at least every twelve months or, better still, make sure you have feeds in place that will alert you in real time as soon as legislation changes.
Contact us
There are no hard and fast rules on the best way to lay out a legal register, however a good H&S specialist should be able to advise.
Arinite clients appreciate we provide practical, no-nonsense advice about what you need to do to establish and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. Our team of health and safety consultants take pride in keeping health and safety simple.
If you need to call upon our expert assistance, or just for an informal chat, please call our office 0207 947 9581, or type an enquiry to: https://www.arinite.com/contact-us/.
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