Time off for safety representative training
by Jenny
There was a recent case at the EAT dealing with the issue of time off for safety representative training.
Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 states:
“An employer shall permit a safety representative to take such time off with pay during the employee’s working hours as shall be necessary for the purpose of:
(b) undergoing such training aspects of those functions as may be reasonable in all the circumstances having regard to any relevant provisions of the Code of Practice relating to time off for training approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Commission under section 16 of the 1974 Act.”
In this case the employee was permitted by his employer to take 2 half days a week to undertake his duties as Unison Branch Health and Safety Officer. He submitted a request to attend training courses outside his two half day weekly allocation, one a course about accidents and the second a health and safety course.
In relation to the accident course the Tribunal had found that it was reasonable that the employee attend the course but that this could have been done in the two half days he already had. In relation to the health and safety course the Tribunal had looked at whether it was necessary for the employee to attend the course and also at the fact that the employer had not actually refused the request. Because the request had not been refused the Tribunal dismissed the employee’s claim.
The EAT held that the Tribunal should have looked at whether the 2 half days was sufficient for the employee to discharge his duties. If it was then there was no claim, if it wasn’t then there was a failure by the employer to allow reasonable time off for his training. The EAT said that the Tribunal should have looked at the amount of time off necessary to undergo such training as was reasonable. The EAT remitted it back to a fresh Tribunal.
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