Details of Provisions
Reservation
The reserved matters are:
the subject-matter of Part I of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. That Part makes provision for the general purposes of securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, protecting persons other than persons at work against risks to health or safety arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work, and controlling the keeping and use of explosive or highly flammable or otherwise dangerous substances, and generally preventing the lawful acquisition, possession and use of such substances; and
the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS). By virtue of paragraph 3 of Part III of Schedule 5, this has the effect of reserving the constitutions of these bodies, the conferral or removal of their functions, and the conferral or removal of any functions specifically exercisable in relation to them. HSC and HSE are primarily concerned with matters which are reserved as part of the subject-matter of Part I of the 1974 Act. However, they have certain functions which are exercisable in relation to matters which are not otherwise reserved. For example, the Commission has powers to direct investigations into fires. The reservation of the Commission by name has the effect of preventing the Scottish Parliament from modifying that function, but not from legislating about general fire safety. EMAS is established by Part II of the 1974 Act. It has functions of advising Ministers, the HSC, employers and employees on health in relation to employment. The effect of its reservation by name is that the Scottish Parliament is not able to legislate about EMAS’s functions, but may, for example, legislate about promoting health in the work place.
