Robens Committee

Robens. Safety and Health at Work, Report of the Robens Committee, HMSO 1972... 

The Netherlands - because of the innovative approaches that appear to be in use in relation both to m aging chemical risks and in OHS more widely. Also because in many respects it represents a hybrid of Nordic and Germanic approaches to labour relations and to regulating OHS (as well as being influenced by British pragmatism and the recommendations of the Robens Committee). 

In 1972 die Committee of Inquiry on Safety and Health at Work - the Robens Committee - produced a report which heralded a si fic t change of approach in British health and safety regulation (Robens 1972). It recommended the introduction of measures that would ... 

The Robens Committee was appointed on 29th May 1970 to review the law governing health and safety at work. The Committee convened against the backdrop of an increase in accident rates between 1961... 

Many of the assumptions of the HSWA stemmed from the Robens Committee s commitment to the notion of voluntarism, the idea that... 

In 1970 the Robens Committee was set up to review the provision made for the safety and health of persons in the course of their employment. At that time safety requirements were contained in a variety of enactments (as the list of relevant statutory provisions in schedule 1 of HSW indicates). An estimated five million employees had no statutory protection. Protection was uneven. Administration was diverse and enforcement powers were considered inadequate. The wording and intent of the legislation were not directed towards personal involvement of the worker and in parts it was outdated. 

In spite of changes of Governments, the main recommendations of the Robens Committee were accepted by Parliament and were incorporated in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. 

The Report of the Robens Committee (1972) represents a watershed in thinking about occupational health and safety in Britain. In May 1970 the then Labour Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, Barbara Castle, appointed a Committee of Inquiry to undertake a wide-ranging review of health and safety in Great Britain. The Committee was Chaired by Lord Robens and its remit was to examine critically the provision made for the safety and health of persons in the course of their employment (1972, p. xiv) and to consider whether changes were needed and, if so, of what type. Three main factors prompted this enquiry ... 

The reforms favoured by the Robens Committee were essentially unifying and centralizing. It was recommended that there should be A New Statutory Framework (1972, ch. 4) and a central part of this would be the establishment of a National Authority for Safety and Health at Work (1972, para. 467). This Authority would incorporate six existing inspectorates, namely those concerned with factories, mines, agriculture, explosives, nuclear installations, and alkali works. The eventual objective would be the merger of these inspectorates and the creation of a unified inspectorate (1972, para. 204 ff.). 

The legislative changes proposed by the Robens Committee were as radical as the organizational changes it had suggested. The Committee recommended... 

The Robens Committee avoided a preoccnpation with the negative outcomes of failing to adhere to safe working practice. Rather, the Committee recognized the need to enforce the spirit of the law throngh a mechanism based on administrative rather than judicial procedures. 

The Robens Committee reported comprehensively and in detail, but the following is a particularly succinct comment ... 

In this it is easy to discern both the influence of the judgements at common law and the report of the Robens Committee. The above outlines the duties of an employer to his employees but, in addition. Section 3 of the Act requires both employers and the self-employed to ensitre that persons not in their employment (i.e. the general public) are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety. This section also requires a self-employed person not to risk his own health and safety in the course of his business. Section 4 of the Act places a similar duty on persons in control of premises. This duty is... 

The Robens Committee recommended the creation of a national authority for health and safety at work. This was reflected in the Health and Safety at Work Act by the... 

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