Health and Safety Executive

EMF Directive:

Working towards

transposition

HSE Radiation Policy Team

Objectives for today

• Provide a brief summary of where the EMF Directive is up to

• Overview of how HSE plans to take the transposition forward

• Highlight where we would like your input

• How you can be involved

The current state of play

• Revised Directive 2013/35/EU was published in EU OJ on 29th June 2013– Updates 2004 Directive (never brought into law in UK)– UK played leading role in tough negotiations– Strong support from stakeholders

• Employers control EMF exposure to avoid adverse health effects and manage safety risks– Graded approach to control (based on ICNIRP)

• Measurable Action Levels – ‘indicative’• Internal Exposure Limit Values – ‘limit’• Derogations for those justified to work above ELV whilst

avoiding adverse health effects and managing safety risks

Key areas of concern

• Key areas of concern raised to date with HSE about the Directive:– Article 4: Risk assessment– Article 8: Health Surveillance– Article 10: Derogation

• Lets talk about each of these briefly

Article 4: Assessment of risks and determination of exposure

• The Framework Directive already requires us to carry out risk assessments, which we transposed into the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

• Evidence tells us that those working with potentially harmful levels of electromagnetic fields are already doing what it takes to protect their workers

Article 4: Assessment of risks etc continued…

• Demonstrating that risk assessments have incorporated appropriate data (as required by Article 4 of the EMF Directive) is the area of concern

• Guidance on risk assessment is likely to feature in both the EU and the UK Practical Guides

Article 8: Health surveillance

• The Framework Directive already requires us to provide health surveillance, which in the UK we have transposed with the Management Regulations 1999

• We are not looking to transpose these requirements again

Article 10: Derogations

Derogations from the Exposure Limit Values and the Action Levels

• “Installation, testing, use, development, maintenance of or research related to MRI equipment for patients in the health sector”

• “Personnel working in operational military installations or involved in military activities”

• “…in duly justified circumstances and only for as long as they remain duly justified, for the ELV to be temporarily in specific sectors or for specific activities…”

Transposition into UK legislation

• We are required to transpose the EMF Directive into the UK legislative framework within three years of the publication in the EU Official Journal

• There is a determined path for us to follow outlined in the UK Governments Guiding Principles for Transposing EU Legislation

• Significant parts of the Directive will already be covered by the Management Regulations 1999

• New legislation may be required for those areas not already covered in law

Copy out

• The current UK approach is that laws passed by the EU, are transposed into UK law using ‘copy out’

• ‘Copy out’ is where the implementing UK law uses the same wording as the Directive

• We can make a legal argument for areas where copy out would put UK business at a competitive disadvantage compared with their European counterparts

What happens next?

• EU Member States have 3 years to bring into force – New UK arrangements Summer 2016

• European Commission developing ‘Practical Guide’

• UK Government will implement in most proportionate and sensible way– existing arrangements wherever possible– supporting guidance

• Ongoing engagement with stakeholders essential

Practical Guide - EU

• Timings– Contract let by end 2013– Drafting and internal clearance

processes 2014-2015– In translation 2015– Ready by Jan 2016

Practical Guide - UK

• UK Practical guide – Expected to support the UK legislative

process– “Duly justified circumstances”

• To make the practical guides useful for you, we need you to be involved

• Digital by default

Stakeholder ‘contracts’

• Establishing a Working Group to liaise on Practical Guides

• Representatives + Deputies elected by mid August 2013

• First Working Group meeting 30/09/13

• COPI - Community of Professional Interest

Your involvement is important

• HSE’s work with with stakeholders has helped secure the least burdensome Directive possible

• By continuing to work together we can identify areas of commonality, avoid reinventing the wheel, and benefit from shared knowledge and experience

• Arqiva has already been most helpful – we would like you to get involved and tell us what you are looking for from HSE

Summary

• Stakeholder involvement has been and still is key

• Timeline – 3 years to get everything ready

• We are in this together!

radiation.policy.team@hse.gsi.gov.uk