After months of lobbying through the APPG on Working at Height and our own proactive campaigning to save the Work at Height Regulations from repeal, the Access Industry Forum welcomes yesterday’s statement from Secretary of State for Business & Industry, The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, who announced a change in the Government’s approach to the ‘sunsetting’ of EU Retained Law.
The sunset clause meant that thousands of EU-derived laws, including the Work at Height Regulations, were set to be automatically repealed at the end of the year.
However, the new approach will replace the current sunset in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (REUL) with a list of the retained EU laws that the Government intends to revoke under the Bill at the end of 2023. This will undoubtedly provide better clarity for businesses in all sectors who until now, have been in a state of limbo due to uncertainty and repeated delays.
While the AIF believes this more considered approach to reforming REUL is a move in the right direction, we eagerly await the detail – most notably on the status of the Work at Height Regulations that are so crucial in preventing falls from height in the UK.
We have read several articles in the press today suggesting the Work at Height Regulations are safe, but until we have definite assurances that they won’t be repealed, the industry must continue to make its voice heard.
We will be monitoring the situation carefully and provide updates as soon as they are available.
Read yesterday’s statement from Secretary of State for Business & Industry:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-05-10/hcws764
