The Government is currently under pressure to introduce further health and safety-related legal duties for individual company directors. If these proposals become law, employers who fall foul of the law could face a maximum penalty of two years in prison or an unlimited fine.

Back in 2007, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published guidance on many health and safety issues and announced that it would make a decision on the duties of directors in the spring of 2010. The new duties include public reporting of accident rates, specific paperwork requirements and the appointment of a director who is responsible for health and safety.

At present, individual directors are already held to account under section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. This states that if the actions, neglect or connivance of a director is responsible for a company committing an offence, they are personally guilty of the offence themselves and can be prosecuted for it.

The manufacturer’s organisation EEF has launched a campaign against the introduction of these new practices, claiming that it would lead to an increase in paperwork and generate a culture of directors covering their backs which would be detrimental to industry. They believe the new measures would actually lower health and safety standards as it would divert resources away from practical protection.

Specifically, the EEF is campaigning for:

• The HSE to rule out imposing extra duties on individual directors.
• Sustained publicity and support to assist directors in meeting current health and safety requirements.
• For the existing law to be enforced proportionately and consistently.

The EEF published a report in February 2009 entitled “Leading the Way”, which it claims showed that 80% of directors already being involved directly in health and safety issues. Directors have become much more engaged in the area - 83% of directors now discuss health and safety regularly at board meetings compared to 55% three years ago.

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