Jun 15 2007
Today the European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld one of the key elements of British health and safety law – the use of the key phrase "so far as is reasonably practicable".
Speaking at the Yorkshire Branch of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) welcomed this decision. Mr Callaghan said:
"I am pleased by this outcome. The Court has rejected the European Commission’s claim that the use of "so far as is reasonably practicable" does not implement the Framework Directive. Quite clearly we have been effective in protecting people as currently we have the best occupational safety record in Europe."
"We continue to believe that the right way forward is a proportionate and risk-based approach protecting employees and others effectively, whilst allowing commonsense to be applied when deciding on what protective measures to adopt."
The European Commission challenged the use of the phrase because the directive, which lays down EU employers’ duties to protect the health and safety of their workers, has no such qualification. The UK robustly defended the case and today the ECJ dismissed the European Commission’s case and ordered it to pay the UK Government’s costs.