The health and safety calendar highlights key dates for proposed and existing legislation and policy and closing dates for consultation papers relating to major health and safety issues in the UK and EU.

It will provide a useful tool for health and safety managers tracking new legislation to control risks and improve performance through a health and safety management system such as OHSAS 18001.

Developments for July include:

  • Workplaces in use before July 2003 must have met requirements under the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) by this month.
  • From 1 July, under the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Regulations 2006, a wide range of electrical and electronic products put on the European Union market may no longer contain certain hazardous substances that can endanger human health and the environment. Four heavy metals and two groups of brominated flame retardants are banned as they can pose a direct risk to workers’ health when waste electrical and electronic equipment is recycled and can be released into the environment when incinerated or disposed of in landfill dumps.
  • There are several consultations ending this month, including:

- One by the DTI on the on-site inspection power required under the EU Consumer Protection Co-operation Regulation – this is designed to allow local authorities to cooperate and link up to share information. As this is already encouraged amongst local authorities in the UK this is unlikely to cause any substantial changes in practice. This consultation will is on the construction and scope of the on-site inspection power.

- A European Commission consultation on the revision to EU legislation on the Inland transport of dangerous goods. Road and rail directives have been amended a number of times so as to ensure that they remain in line with international rules. Inevitably developments over time have rendered a number of clauses redundant and these are to be removed. Another intention is to merge the current rules on dangerous goods transport by road and rail into one piece of Community legislation and extend this to include the international rules on dangerous goods transport by inland waterways (so called ADN).

  • Finally, with the World Cup and Wimbledon, July is a sporty month! The Safety of Sports Ground (Designation) (No2) Order 2006 comes into force this month. This designates certain named sports grounds as requiring a safety certificate under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975.

To view the latest monthly update of the calendar, please click here.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 07/07/2006.