Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Health and Safety Information for Employees (Amendment) Regulations 2009 and shall come into force on 6th April 2009.

(2) In these Regulations “the 1989 Regulations” means the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989(2).

Amendment of the 1989 Regulations

2.—(1) The 1989 Regulations are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 3(3) for “nine months” substitute “five years”.

(3) After regulation 5(1)(b) insert the following—

“; or (c) information as to how any of his employees may obtain the information referred to in (a) and (b) above.”.

(4) After regulation 5(3)(b) insert the following—

“; or (c) information as to how any of his employees may obtain the information referred to in (a) and (b) above.”.

Extension outside Great Britain

3.  These Regulations shall apply to and in relation to premises and activities outside Great Britain to the same extent as provided for in regulation 2(5) of the 1989 Regulations.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989 (1989 No. 682), which require information relating to health, safety and welfare to be furnished to employees by means of posters or leaflets in the form approved and published for the purposes of the Regulations by the Health and Safety Executive.

The 1989 Regulations require the name and address of the enforcing authority and the address of the employment medical advisory service to be written in the appropriate place on the poster (regulation 5(1)); and where the leaflet is given, the same information should be specified in a written notice accompanying it (regulation 5(3)). These Regulations amend regulation 5(1) and 5(3) of the 1989 Regulations to enable an employer alternatively to provide information as to how any of his employees may obtain the name and address of the enforcing authority and the address of the employment medical advisory service.

The Regulations also amend regulation 3(3) of the 1989 Regulations by increasing the period in which an employer can continue to display the unrevised approved poster and distribute the unrevised approved leaflet, from nine months to five years.

A final impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Health and Safety Executive’s website (http://www.hse.gov.uk/ria/) and the Better Regulations Executive’s Impact Assessment library (http://www.ialibrary.berr.gov.uk/)