New laws on working safely with explosives and compressed acetylene gas will take effect next month.
Two new sets of consolidated regulations – The Explosives Regulations 2014 and The Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014 – come into force on 1 October.
The revised regulations, which apply to those who manufacture and store compressed acetylene gas and to the explosives industry, are designed to help reduce the regulatory burden on business and regulators by clarifying and simplifying requirements.
They will replace the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005, other legislative instruments and current explosives guidance. Key changes in the acetylene safety regulations include:
- removing the requirement to seek Health and Safety Executive (HSE) approval for certain acetylene equipment provided it complies with current recognised standards; and
- anyone wishing to manufacture, compress or fill a cylinder with acetylene gas greater than 0.62 bar (g) will need to hold a licence, replacing the current complex process for gaining approval.
The main changes in the regulatory framework for explosives include:
- allowing local authorities to issue licences for up to five years, aligning them with equivalent HSE/police-issued licences;
- extending licensing to address storage of ammonium nitrate blasting intermediate; and
- updating exceptions for keeping higher hazard and desensitised explosives without a licence.
While these changes may affect only a limited number of businesses, enterprises of all sizes need to be sure they stay abreast and compliant with both sector-specific changes to health and safety rules as well as those that apply more generally.
For more information on how Palmers can assist employers with health and safety issues, or if you are facing prosecution, please visit the Palmers website or contact our health and safety specialists Jeremy Sirrell.