03 July 2009
Louis Wustemann

The HSE plans to draw up a "minimal" set of Regulations on artificial optical radiation, to come into force next April. The Regulations, covering devices such as lasers, are required to transpose the EU Optical Radiation Directive into UK law.

At its June meeting the HSE board accepted a paper which suggested that the new Regulations should not bring in any new requirements for employers since the risks from industrial lasers were already adequately covered by the general duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. The paper also noted that there had only been one reported injury due to artificial optical radiation (AOR) since 1991 and that the UK already subscribes to the emission limit values required in the Directive.

The board accepted the suggestion of the smallest set of Regulations necessary to implement the Directive, following a consultation exercise from August and October this year. The paper says in previous consultations "the majority of stakeholders have raised no objections to the Directive as they feel it codifies what they already do in practice".

The new Regulations will be accompanied by a communications exercise targeted at small businesses, which will make it clear that if they only have non-hazardous sources of AOR, such as general office lighting, they will not be expected to do anything extra.

An HSE spokesperson told HSP the executive's priority was "to ensure adequate protection for workers while avoiding unnecessary burdens for business."

The Optical Radiation Directive was one of the four physical agents directives agreed by the European Council in the late 1990s. Two of the others have already become law here in the past five years through the Control of Noise at Work Regulations and the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations. The implementation deadline for the fourth, covering electro-magnetic fields, has been put back by four years to 2012, to allow for amendments to ensure it will not restrict the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners in hospitals.

The Optical Radiation Directive originally included the effects of natural radiation (sunlight) but this was later removed by the European Parliament.

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