In addition to your broad responsibilities to assess and reduce risk, there are two specific sets of regulations designed to promote consultation and communication between you and your employees on health and safety matters. These are outlined below.
Employees also have legal duties to work with your health and safety initiatives (see managing occupational health and safety responsibilites ).
As discussed above, there is a legal obligation for you to consult all your employees on matters of health and safety. This is done through the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 where there is a recognised union(s) in the workplace or The Health And Safety (Consultation With Employees) Regulations 1996where employees are not represented by union-appointed safety reps.
See guidance available in Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) L87 Safety representatives and safety committees and also HSE's leaflet entitled Consulting Employees on Health and Safety.