Letter urges business secretary not to scrap working at height laws

A letter from the Scaffolding Association to Business Secretary Grant Shapps expresses concern about Working at Height regulations (WAHR).

WAHR face the axe under an overhaul of EU-derived law in the UK.

Robert Candy, Chief Executive of the Scaffolding Association, believes ‘urgent reassurance’ is necessary in light of plans in the government’s ‘Brexit Freedoms’ Bill.

The letter reads:

“Statistics which are published annually by HSE consistently demonstrate that working at height remains the single largest contributing factor to workplace fatalities and that almost a quarter of all workplace fatalities occur because of falls from height,” he says in the letter dated 19 December 2022.

“This association fully supports WAHR and does not believe that they are burdensome or onerous for businesses to implement. I urgently seek your reassurance that the government does not intend to remove WAHR and that careful consideration will be given to ensure that any amendments to do not inadvertently compromise the safety of workers within our sector and the wider construction industry.”

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will amend, repeal or replace most EU laws which moved onto the UK statute post-Brexit.

These include laws regarding protections for the environment and workers’ rights.

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