Traffic light tool for prioritising legislation
Dear subscriber,
As part of our development of the ELUS / HASLUS service we listen to ideas you have about making
the service better, and look to incorporate improvements where applicable into the product.
The traffic light tool for enabling you to prioritise legislation is an idea many of you have asked for,
so we are pleased to provide this update for you.
We have included 4 levels rather than the traditional 3, as follows:
Red: Non-compliant with this law
Amber: Not fully compliant
Green: Fully compliant with this law
Blue: Fully compliant (law requires periodic action)
Whilst Red and Green require no explanation, it is worth providing examples of when you might use
Amber, and when to use Blue (in our opinion).
Amber is designed to be used for legislation where you feel you are not fully operating within the
limits of the law. For example if you have a consent to discharge effluent under the Water Industry
Act 1991 that for the most part you operate within, but occasionally you exceed your threshold
limits.
Blue is designed for legislation that you are fully compliant with, but have periodic actions associated
with that law in order to remain compliant. For example annual registration with the Environment
Agency for hazardous waste production, or annual returns for a compliance scheme under the
Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO STRESS THAT THIS TRAFFIC LIGHT TOOL IS DESIGNED FOR YOUR BENEFIT AND
INTERPRETATION. THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG DESIGNATION.
Its’ aim is to provide a quick visual representation of areas you may need to focus on, and the ‘lights’
can be amended or removed at any time.
Instructions for use
When you first click on your ELUS or HASLUS register, you will notice a new column has appeared
called ‘Status’.
This is the first place that a visual representation of the legislation status will appear. When you first
access your register there will be no lights visible, until you decide to assign them.
There are 2 ways to assign ‘lights’ to the legislation:
1. Within the summary pages of each law
2. In the chapter contents
The first way allows you to assign traffic lights one at a time; The second way allows you to add
multiple lights at once.
Adding a traffic light in the summary page
1. Click into the summary of a piece of law as you would do normally to write a comment, using the
Reference link.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the ‘Requirements’ paragraphs.
3. Use the dropdown menu to select the appropriate traffic light, and press ‘Update’.
4. This will assign a traffic light ‘dot’ to that law, which will also appear on the contents page and
front page of your register in the ‘Status’ column
(See picture below)
Selecting the traffic light
Using the Chapter Contents to add traffic lights
1. Click into a chapter using the links on the right hand side of the main page (I am in the ‘Safety’
chapter for this example)
2. Locate the ‘Action on Selected’ dropdown menu at the bottom of your ‘Relevant’ legislation in
that chapter.
3. Click on ‘Edit Status’
4. This will populate the ‘Status’ column with a series of dropdown menus against each law. They will
all show as ‘Undefined’ as you haven’t assigned any ‘lights’ yet.
5. For any legislation you wish, assign the status, Red, amber, Green or Blue.
6. YOU MUST ALSO TICK THE BOX TO THE RIGHT OF EACH LAW YOU ASSIGN IN THE ‘SELECT’
COLUMN OTHERWSE THE LIGHTS WON’T BE SELECTED.
7. Press the ‘Go’ button next to the ‘action on selected’ menu
8. This will assign the traffic lights as shown below:
As mentioned before you can alter the colour of the traffic lights assigned to any legislation at any
time by using the ‘Action on selected’ dropdown menu and clicking on Edit status. You can even
remove the traffic lights by selecting ‘Undefined’.
The text related to each traffic light cannot be edited, but this tool is designed only as a visual guide
and is your interpretation of your current status.
If you have any queries about this part of the service, please feel free to contact us.
Kind Regards
ELUS / HASLUS administrator
01254 669 024