Employers who consult their employees over health and safety issues involve the whole of their organisation in a health and safety culture. In human and financial terms, this benefits everyone. In legal terms, this consultation is now compulsory. The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (SRSCR) gives trade unions the legal right to appoint workplace safety representatives. Employees in Britain today have the right to be consulted in good time, directly or indirectly through their representatives, regarding:
a) any proposed new measures that may substantially affect their health and safety
b) the appointment of people competent to advise employers under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
c) required health and safety information
d) health and safety training arrangements
e) health and safety consequences of introducing new technology

Safety reps are health and safety problem solvers taking up any matters that relate to health and safety on behalf of employees with the employer.

They have the right to the following:
a) To investigate potential hazards and dangerous occurrences at the workplace (whether or not they are drawn to her/his attention by the employees s/he represents) and to examine the causes of accidents at the workplace
[SRSC Reg. 4(1)(a)]
b) To investigate complaints by an employee s/he represents relating to the employees health, safety or welfare at work [SRSC Reg 4(1)(b)]
c) To make representations to the employer on matters arising out of the sub-paragraphs above
d) To make representations to the employer on general maters affecting health, safety or welfare at work of the employees at the workplace [SRSC Reg 4(1)(c &d)]
e) To carry out inspections [SRSC Regs 5, 6 & 7]
f) To represent the employees she/he was appointed to represent in consultations at the workplace with inspectors of the HSE or any other enforcing authority and to liase with those authorities [SRSC Reg 4(1)(f)]
g) To receive information from inspectors in accordance with Section 28(8) of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HASAWA) [SRSC Reg 4 (1) (g)]
h) To require their employer to set up a safety committee within three months of the request [SRSC Reg 9(1)]
i) To attend meetings of safety committees where she/he attends in her/his capacity as a safety rep in connection with any of the above functions [SRSC Reg 4(1)(h)]
j) but without prejudice to Sections 7 and 8 of HASAWA, no function given to a Safety Rep by this paragraph shall be construed as imposing any duty on her/him.

Safety reps do not merely react to problems. They also have broad powers to monitor health and safety in their workplace, keep members health and safety interests under review and discuss all matters arising with their employer. But although the employer must listen to and consult the safety rep, there is no legal means to insist that an employer acts upon the safety reps advice.

Inspections
A major part of the safety reps job is carrying out inspections. These inspections are in two main areas:
a) Inspections of the workplace at least once a quarter [SRSC Reg 5(1), Guidance Note 19]
b) Inspection of any documents the employer is legally required to keep on matters of health, safety and welfare at work [SRSC Reg 7, Code of Practice 6, Guidance Notes 29-30]

A safety rep's additional rights to inspection include:
c) Inspections if work practices change or new HSC or HSE information becomes available [SRSC Reg 5(2)]
d) Inspections after a Notifiable Accident or Dangerous Occurrence [SRSC Reg 6(1)]

Arrangements for three-monthly and other more frequent inspections will need to be agreed with employers. These matters are often best dealt with at the workplace level. Issues to be discussed include:
a) The need for more frequent inspections of high risk or rapidly changing areas of work activity
b) Notice and timing of formal inspections by safety reps and how many safety reps will be involved
c) The possibility of breaking up plant-wide formal inspections into smaller, more manageable inspections
d) The need for different groups of safety reps to carry out inspections of different parts of the workplace
e) The type of inspection to be carried out, such as safety tours, sampling or surveys (including consulting employees)
f) The enlistment by safety reps of independent technical advisers [Guidance Note 31]

Formal inspections are no substitute for daily observation. However, they provide a useful opportunity to carry out a full-scale examination of all or part of the workplace, including the inspection of documents required by health and safety legislation such as certificates concerning the testing of equipment. During these inspections, safety reps can network with other safety reps and discuss remedial action with their employers.

During inspections following notifiable accidents or dangerous occurrences [SRSC Reg 6(1)], employers are not legally obliged to be present, while safety reps consult their members. There may of course be occasions when safety reps do not wish employers to be present. However, the regulations do not preclude them or their representatives from being present [SRSC Reg 6 (2)].

Though considerable care needs to be taken during collection, safety reps should also be permitted to take samples of any substance used at work for independent analysis outside the workplace.

Following an inspection, safety reps should complete an inspection report, recording the date, time and details of an inspection. One copy of the completed form should be sent to the employer and one copy should be retained by the safety rep for their own records and for reference during safety committee discussions.

Investigations
Under SRSC Reg. 4(1)(a)], safety reps are also allowed to investigate:
a) Potential hazards
b) Dangerous occurrences
c) Causes of accidents, dangerous occurrences and occupational ill-health
And d) Complaints from their members [SRSC Reg 4(1)(b)]

Safety reps can therefore, immediately, and without formal notice of an inspection, investigate imminent risks.
Following the investigation of a serious mishap, the safety rep should also complete a hazard report form, retain one copy and send the other to the employer. The employer should complete and return to the safety rep the part of the form that describes any proposed remedial action or offers an explanation. The safety committee should refer to this during their discussions of the incident. Inspection and report forms can be drafted to an agreed format to meet local needs.

Representation
Once safety reps have investigated unsafe conditions or hazards to health in their workplace, the SRSCR gives them the right to:
a) Inform the employer of potential hazards or members complaints [SRSC Reg 4(1)(c &d)]
b) Inform the employer of their findings and complaints after inspections [SRSC Reg 4(1)(c &d)]
c) Give notice of hazards normally in writing [Code of Practice 5(c)]
d) Gain access to the employer without delay [Code of Practice 5(c)]

With respect to fellow employees, the SRSCR gives safety reps the right to:
a) Make representations on behalf of their members to the employer on any health, safety and welfare matter
[SRSC Reg 4(1)(c &d)]
b) Represent members in workplace consultations with HSE inspectors [SRSC Reg 4(1)(f)]
c) Publish the results of inspections throughout the workplace [Guidance Note 25]
d) Make safety committee minutes available to the members [Guidance Note 59]
e) Act as a companion to workers with health and safety grievances in areas with no trade union recognition
[Employment Relations Act]
f) Facilities for private discussion with members during inspections and after accidents [SRSC Reg 5(3) and SRSC Reg 6(2)

Consultation with Safety Reps
There are also duties imposed on employers to consult safety reps on matters regarding health and safety at work, including:
a) The making and maintenance of arrangements for health and safety [HASAWA  S.2(6)]
b) The introduction of any measure at the workplace which may substantially affect the health and safety of  the employees [SRSC Reg 4A 1(a)]
c) The arrangements for appointing or nominating competent persons under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 [SRSC Reg 4A 1(b)]
d) Any health and safety information required to be provided to the employees [SRSC Reg 4A 1(c)]
e) The planning and organisation of health and safety training [SRSC Reg 4A 1(d)]
f) The health and safety consequences of the planning and introduction of new technologies [SRSC Reg 4A 1(e) and Guidance Notes 12-13]

Receiving Information
Under the SRSC Regulations, safety reps are entitled to receive full information from their employers to enable them to carry out their functions. Reps are entitled to inspect and take copies of health and safety documents [SRSC Reg 7(1)] which include:
a) Plans and performance affecting health and safety [Code of Practice 6(a)]
b) Technical information on hazards and precautions including that provided by consultants, designers, manufacturers, importers or suppliers of any article or substance [Code of Practice 6(b)]
c) Information on accidents, dangerous occurrences notifiable industrial diseases including statistical records
[Code of Practice 6(c)]
d) Results of measurements to monitor health and safety arrangements [Code of Practice 6(d)]
e) Information on articles and substances issued to homeworkers [Code of Practice 6(e)]

However, employers can refuse information if giving it:
a) Endangers national security
b) Breaks the law
c) Breaks confidentiality without permission from the individual concerned (Data Protection Act)
d) Harms the business (excepting its impact on health and safety)
e) Is in connection with legal proceedings, with the sole objective of bringing, prosecuting or defending an action

Under Section 28(8) of HASAWA, HSE inspectors and local authority environmental health officers have a duty to disclose specific kinds of information to employees or their representatives concerning their health or safety or welfare at work. This information includes any measurement testing, the results of sampling or monitoring and any action that the inspector takes or proposes to take; for example, prosecutions, the issue of Improvement or Prohibition Notices or warning letters to employers.

Safety reps should ensure that they are informed by the employer when an HSE inspector or an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) is expected to visit the premises. When the HSE inspector or the EHO are actually in the workplace, safety reps should ensure that they are given the opportunity to speak privately with the inspectors.

Risk Assessments
Safety reps should not confuse workplace inspections with risk assessments. Inspections only seek to identify hazards and problems. Risk assessments are more wide ranging and identify hazards, evaluate the risks, record the findings, recommend precautions and review progress.

Management is legally responsible for carrying out risk assessments, but generally, unions and the HSE encourage safety reps to participate in all stages of risk assessments to ensure that procedures and improvements are working effectively.

Legal Protection and Absence of Legal Liability
Under SRSCR, safety reps are given a number of legal functions, which their employers should allow them to carry out. However, Regulation 4 also states that they can not be legally penalised if they do not, or only partly, carry them out. [SRSC Reg 4 (1) and Guidance Note 44].  As safety reps are not legally responsible for health, safety or welfare at work under these regulations they cannot be held liable in either criminal or civil law for anything they may do, or fail to do.

This protection does not absolve safety reps from their general responsibility as an employee, but it does ensure that their responsibility has not increased because of their appointment. As an employee you are still liable under Section 7 of HASAWA and Reg. 14 of the MHSW Regulations 1999.

Safety representatives should not suffer any detriment from exercising the right to withdraw from situations 'of serious and imminent danger' (the same for individual employees). [MHSW Reg 8 (2)(b)]

Neither should safety reps suffer any detriment for "whistleblowing" on health and safety issues.
[Public Disclosure Act 1998]

Protection for Safety Reps and Employees
The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Section 44 and 100) strengthens the position of safety reps and employees. Safety reps are protected from detriment or dismissal for carrying out their designated functions. They and other employees are also protected:
(a) If they leave, or propose, to leave the workplace in circumstances of serious and imminent danger
(b) If they take or propose to take action against serious and imminent danger

This section of the Act adds Sections 22A and 57A to the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978. Protection is available regardless of length of service, hours of work or age. The rights are enforceable through industrial tribunals.