WORKING TIME REGULATIONS
The Working Time
Regulations (WTR) 1998 came into force on 1st October 1998 and implemented the
European Directive on the Organisation of Working Time (EWTD).
The 1998 WTR were amended
by the WTR 1999, came into force on 17th December 1999.
The WTR introduced limits
on working time and entitlements to rest and the main provision generally give
workers the right to;
·
a limit on average weekly
working hours of 48 over a 17 week period
·
a limit on night workers'
average normal daily hours of 8
·
health assessments for
night workers
·
a minimum daily rest period
of 11 consecutive hours
·
a weekly uninterrupted rest
period of 24 hours
·
rest breaks at work (where
the working day is more than 6 hours, an uninterrupted period of not less than
20 minutes)
·
4 weeks paid annual leave.
The
above provisions represent minimum standards of protection for health
and
safety of workers.
Employers
are required to take all reasonable steps to provide this protection.
Failure
to comply with WTR can constitute a criminal offence.
The
WTR are primarily a health and safety provision.
The
WTR apply to all Federated Ranks.
Northern
Constabulary fails to fully comply with the WTR.
The 48 hour reference
relates to an average over 17 weeks and does NOT mean that officers are
restricted to only 8 hours overtime each week.
Paragraph 3.1 of the
Guidance Notes of Force Reference Document (FRD) The Working Time
Regulations details arrangements for those who would wish to opt-out of the
48 hour provision.
The
48 hour rule is the only aspect of the WTR which can be opted out of.
Neither the Force nor the Scottish
Police Federation (SPF) commends the practice of opting out.
Opting
out can only take place following a specific Risk Assessment.
Such specific Risk
Assessment will require to consider the effects on the individual, their
colleagues and the public.
Guidance on Risk Assessment
is available from the Force's Health, Safety and Welfare Manager.
The
facility to opt-out is likely to be removed by legislation in the near future.
The SPF's view is that
opting out does NOT obviate the need to record hours as the requirement still
exists to monitor hours worked.
Police Regulations continue
to govern Members' conditions of service and provide
a statutory framework for the organisation of working time which the WTR have
not changed.
The
WTR do NOT preclude Variable Shift Arrangements (VSAs).
The WTR comprise a health
and safety safeguard against potential abuses of the organisation of working
time within the framework provided by Police Regulations.
In many respects Police
Regulations provide better conditions than those introduced by the WTR e.g.
annual leave, weekly rest and rest breaks (albeit these are subject to the exigencies
of duty) and a worker is entitled to take advantage of which ever right is,
in any particular respect, the more favourable.
Police Negotiating Board
(PNB) Circular 1/02 amended Police (Scotland) Regulations 1976, Regulation 21A
4 (a) to ensure an interval of not less than 11 hours between shifts.
The Home Office Guide
for Police Mangers on Health and Safety and the Police Service, issued by
Northern Constabulary, states By it's very nature policing has always been a
hazardous occupation.
The SPF concurs with that
Home Office view and considers it inconceivable that anyone with knowledge of
police work would dispute such a statement.
WTR defines night-time as
a period- the duration of which is not less than seven hours, and b) which
includes the period between midnight and 5 a.m.
WTR defines a night-worker
as someone who, as a normal course, works at least three hours of his daily
time during night-time.
It is accepted that police officers on rotational
shift patterns are night-workers.
The
Shift Workers Guide,
endorsed by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) states Night Working -
the hazards - the effects of lack of sleep on your ability to function in your
role should not be underestimated.
Tiredness causes irritability and can detrimentally affect your
rationale and thinking. It can also be
very dangerous.
Numerous Government
research documents have highlighted the risks faced by police officers
generally and during night-time specifically.
The
most hazardous times for officers are between 10p.m. and 3a.m.
It
is known that police officers face over 3 times the average risk of physical
violence.
Half
of assaults occurring when officers respond to calls for assistance.
By way of example, there is
a distinct difference between walking down a street
on a Tuesday afternoon with three hundred shoppers about and walking that same
street in the early hours of the morning when its occupied by three hundred
patrons from licensed premises.
The SPF is convinced that
no objective risk assessment could ignore the additional dangers and hazards to
police officers associated with night work.
Those hazards include:
·
Increased risk of accident and injuries caused by sleep debt and
fatigue.
·
Increased risk of health caused by disruption to biological rhythms and
disturbed eating patterns.
·
Increased risk to mental health caused by disruption to biological
rhythms and working extended unsocial hours.
·
Increased hazards of pursuits on foot during the hours of darkness,
already accepted by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority as exceptional
risk (A Guide to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (2001)
paragraph 7.16.)
·
Increased risk of accident and injury during foot patrol caused by
necessarily patrolling unlit areas during the hours of darkness.
·
Increased risks associated with vehicular pursuits during the hours of
darkness.
·
Increased risk of driving police vehicles generally during the hours of darkness.
·
Increased risk of being assaulted and injured while effecting arrests
arising from the greater degree of substance-induced disorderly conduct, which
arises during night-time.
·
The greater difficulty experienced in making critical decisions while
·
suffering from sleep debt
and biological dysfunction.
·
Actions and decisions of police officers impact on the general public
who may also be placed at
increased risk
.
ACPOS sought advice from
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on the question of special hazards and
night-working.
HSE advised ACPOS that
whilst policing is potentially hazardous at all times,
there are special
hazards associated with night-working.
ACPOS accepts this HSE
advice.
The SPF fully concur with
the HSE and ACPOS on this issue.
Regulation 6 (7) of the WTR
states that where a night worker's work involves special hazards or heavy
physical or mental strain, there is a limit of 8 hours on the actual daily
working time allowed in any 24 hour period during which night work is
performed.
It is a matter for the
Chief Constable how Northern Constabulary responds to both that specific HSE
advice and general issues of compliance with health and safety legislation.
A Workplace Agreement can
be entered into by the SPF and Chief Constable to modify or exclude the
application of certain provision contained in the WTR.
In the absence of any
Workplace Agreement the default position as regards the WTR applies.
The JBB has intimated
willingness to discuss a Workplace Agreement.
A generic Workplace
Agreement was prepared by Scotland's eight JBB Secretaries in consultation with the SPF's lawyers and the HSE.
That Agreement was approved
by the SPF's Joint Central Committee, circulated to JBB Representatives prior
to the September JBB Meeting and is already operating in other forces.
The JBB would suggest that
anything short of 100% compliance with the WTR makes officers, the Force and
the public vulnerable, leaving the door open for both criminal and civil
litigation.
The JBB has offered to
assist the Force with updating the FRD on WTR.
The JBB will continue to
work closely with the Force to ensure best practice with regard to all aspects
of health and safety.
Signed: John B Finnie 9th December, 2002
JBB Secretary
