What you need to know
To help avoid an unnecessary burden on businesses, the HSE Board set a five-year transition period for replacing the 1999 poster and leaflet.
The 1999 poster or leaflet must be replaced with the 2009 poster or leaflet no later than 5 April 2014.
Note that employers will still be complying with the law if they continue to display the 1999 poster after 6 April 2009. However, where employers do keep the old poster, there will be a continuing duty, in the period up to April 2014, to keep the additional written information up to date.
The additional information that employers have to provide in writing, either by inserting this in the appropriate boxes on the 1999 poster or by giving it to workers with the 1999 leaflet, is:
- The name and address of the enforcing authority; and
- The address of the office of HSE’s Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS) for the premises concerned.
These addresses can be obtained by accessing:
- The HSE website to see the type of workplaces HSE is responsible for and those where local authorities have responsibility. Should HSE be the enforcing authority, addresses for HSE local offices are available on the HSE website;
- Gov.UK for a list of local authorities;
Please also be aware that the Information cards and leaflets are available free to download at http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/lawposter.html
