Employer & Employee Co-Operation on Health & Safety Matters

The NJC Health & Safety Committee considers that constructive and positive consultation and cooperation between employers and employees is a key ingredient in delivering good risk management standards on engineering construction sites. It also notes the legal requirement for consultation with employees contained in the 1977 Safety Representatives and 2015 CDM Regulations.

The Committee believes that the common application of such principles has contributed to the consistently and substantially lower injury rates experienced in engineering construction compared to construction as a whole. Furthermore, such constructive and positive exchange between employers and employees both seeking genuine resolution of real risk, is recognised as a reflection of the wider principles underpinning the NAECI framework.

The purpose of this statement is to record and confirm the Committee’s view in this respect.

Bearing the above in mind, Trade Union and employer members of the NJC SHE Committee recognise potential benefit of these principles, so far as risk management is concerned, being reflected in site specific SPA agreements.

The Committee does not seek to mandate the contents of SPAs. SPA content is to be decided solely as a result of agreement arising from discussion between the parties engaged in the project concerned. Neither does the Committee consider that the content of SPAs substitutes for the employer’s role, responsibilities and rights with respect to effective management of the risks on their sites. Nonetheless, it recognises the potential for agreement in SPAs to complement those employer functions.

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