Introduction to Health & Safety LAWs

1. HEALTH AND SAFETY
Jim McCann

2. Setting the
framework
&
Who makes
the rules
2

3. Action on health and
safety
3

4. Options
The Health and Safety Commission and its

operating arm, the Executive (HSC/E), have spent
the last twenty years modernizing the structure of
health and safety law. Their aims are to protect
the health, safety and welfare of employees, and
to safeguard others, principally the public, who
may be exposed to risks from industrial activity.
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5. HSC/E consult fully with people affected

by their legislative proposals, and adopt
various approaches based on assessing
and controlling risk.
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6. Among the things that can prompt action from

HSC/E are:
Changes in technologies, industries or risks;

Evidence of accidents and ill health, plus public

concern;
European Directives

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7. Where HSC/E consider action is necessary

to supplement existing arrangements,
their three main options are:
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8. Guidance;

Approved Codes of Practice; and

Regulations.

HSC/E try to take whichever option, or options,
allows employers most flexibility and costs them
least, while providing proper safeguards for
employees and the public.
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9. The Law
The basis of British health and safety law is the

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The Act sets out the general duties which

employers have towards employees and
members of the public, and employees have to
themselves and to each other.
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10. These duties are qualified in the Act by the

principle of 'so far as is reasonably
practicable'. In other words, the degree of
risk in a particular job or workplace needs
to be balanced against the time, trouble,
cost and physical difficulty of taking
measures to avoid or reduce the risk.
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11. GENERAL DUTIES OF THE
EMPLOYER
It shall be the duty of every employer to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable,
the health, safety and welfare at work of
all his employee
Without prejudice to the generality of an
employer's duty under the preceding
subsection, the matters to which that duty
extends include in particular
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12. The provision and maintenance of
plant and systems of work that
are, so far as is reasonably
practicable, safe and without risks
to health;
12

13. Arrangements for ensuring, so far as
is reasonably practicable, safety and
absence of risks to health in
connection with the use, handling,
storage and transport of articles and
substances;
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14. The provision of such information,
instruction, training and supervision
as is necessary to ensure, so far as is
reasonably practicable, the health
and safety at work of his employees;
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15. So far as is reasonably practicable as
regards any place of work under the
employer's control, the maintenance
of it in a condition that is safe and
without risks to health and the
provision and maintenance of means
of access to and egress from it that
are safe and without such risks;
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16. The provision and maintenance of a
working environment for his
employees that is, so far as is
reasonably practicable, safe, without
risks to health, and adequate as
regards facilities and arrangements
for their welfare at work
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17. What the law requires here is

what good management and
common sense would lead
employers to do anyway: that
is, to look at what the risks
are and take sensible
measures to tackle them.
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18. The Management of Health and Safety

at Work Regulations 1992 (the
Management Regulations) generally
make more explicit what employers are
required to do to manage health and
safety under the Health and Safety at
Work Act. Like the Act, they apply to
every work activity.
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19. RISK ASSESSMENT
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20. The main requirement on employers is

to carry out a risk assessment.
Employers with five or more employees
need to record the significant findings of
the risk assessment.
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21. Risk assessment should be

straightforward in a simple workplace
such as a typical office. It should only
be complicated if it deals with serious
hazards such as those on a nuclear
power station, a chemical plant,
laboratory or an oil rig.
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22. Besides carrying out a risk assessment,

employers also need to:
make arrangements for implementing

the health and safety measures
identified as necessary by the risk
assessment;
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23. appoint competent people (often themselves

or company colleagues) to help them to
implement the arrangements;
set up emergency procedures;

23

24. provide clear information and training to

employees;
work together with other employers

sharing the same workplace.
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25. The Health and Safety at Work Act, and

general duties in the Management
Regulations, are goal-setting and leave
employers freedom to decide how to
control risks which they identify.
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26. Guidance and Approved Codes of Practice

give advice, but employers are free to
take other measures provided they do
what is reasonably practicable.
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27. But some risks are so great, or the proper

control measures so costly, that it would
not be appropriate to leave employers
discretion in deciding what to do about
them.
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28. Regulations identify these risks and set

out specific action that must be taken.
Often these requirements are absolute - to
do something without qualification by
whether it is reasonably practicable
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29. General duties of employees at work.
HASAW etc Act 1974
It shall be the duty of every employee
while at work
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30. (A) to take reasonable care for the

health and safety of himself and of
other persons who may be affected
by his acts or omissions at work; and
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31. (B) as regards any duty or

requirement imposed on his
employer or any other person by or
under any of the relevant statutory
provisions, to co-operate with him so
far as is necessary to enable that
duty or requirement to be performed
or complied with
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32. Duty not to interfere with
or misuse things
provided pursuant to
certain provisions.
HASAW etc Act 1974
32

33. No person shall intentionally or
recklessly interfere with or misuse
anything provided in the interests of
health, safety or welfare in
pursuance of any of the relevant
statutory provisions.
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34. European Law

In recent years much of Britain's

health and safety law has originated
in Europe. Proposals from the
European Commission may be agreed
by Member States, who are then
responsible for making them part of
their domestic law.
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35. GUIDANCE
HSE publishes guidance on a range

of subjects.
Guidance can be specific to the

health and safety problems of an
industry or of a particular process
used in a number of industries.
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36. The main purposes of guidance are:

to interpret - helping people to understand

what the law says - including for example
how requirements based on EC Directives
fit with those under the Health and Safety
at Work Act;
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37. To help people comply with the law;

To give technical advice.

Following guidance is not compulsory and

employers are free to take other action.
But if they do follow guidance they will
normally be doing enough to comply with
the law.
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38. Approved Codes of Practice
ACOPS
Approved Codes of Practice offer practical

examples of good practice.
The give advice on how to comply with

the law by,
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39. For example, providing a guide to what is

'reasonably practicable'.
For example, if regulations use words like

'suitable and sufficient', an Approved Code
of Practice can illustrate what this requires
in particular circumstances.
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40. Approved Codes of Practice have a special legal

status. If employers are prosecuted for a breach
of health and safety law, and it is proved that
they have not followed the relevant provisions of
the Approved Code of Practice, a court can find
them at fault unless they can show that they
have complied with the law in some other way.
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41. HSC plans to consult on the role of

Approved Codes of Practice in the health
and safety system and the usefulness of
the fifty or so which are current.
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42. Regulations
Regulations are law, approved by

Parliament.
These are usually made under the

Health and Safety at Work Act,
following proposals from HSC.
This applies to regulations based on EC

Directives as well as 'home-grown'
ones.
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43. The regulations apply to most work activities.

They up-date and extend existing UK health and
safety law (1974 Act) and impact on employer
duties in relation to employees and others
affected by work activity. They also affect the
self-employed's obligations to protect
themselves and others. They cover European
Union (EU) Article 118A directives on health and
safety at work in relation to:
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44. Control over Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)

Health and Safety Management

Work Equipment Safety

Manual Handling of Loads

Workplace Conditions

Personnel Protective Equipment

Display Screen Equipment

Construction (Design and Management)

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994

(1) The pre-tender stage health and safety plan and
(2) the role of the planning supervisor
Signpost to the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations

1996
The regulations emphasise sound health and safety management and broad
duties to assess risk and prevention by applying protective measures.
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45. POLICY
STATEMENTS
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46. Health and Safety Policies
HASAW Etc Act 1974 Section 2(3) Except in such

cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of
every employer to prepare and as often as may be
appropriate revise a written statement of his
general policy with respect to the health and
safety at work of his employees and the
organisation and arrangements for the time being
in force for carrying out that policy, and to bring
the statement and any revision of it to the notice
of all of his employees.
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47. Health and Safety Goals and
Objectives
Protection

Improving the working environment

Increasing awareness of Health and Safety

Improving efficiency

Reduce costs & liabilities

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48. EXTRACT FROM A HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY
STATEMENT
OBJECTIVES

High standards of Health & Safety performance

represent my top priority and I regard them as a
key element in successful business performance and
a major consideration in planning and executing
activities within the Company. To this extent, Health
& Safety considerations will generally be accorded a
higher priority than operational issues so as to
improve working conditions and reduce costs and
liabilities associated with work place injuries and ill
health. It is my aim that we continually strive to
meet, as an absolute minimum, legislative
standards in all aspects of work and that our
business performance is actively reviewed so that
we achieve higher Health & Safety standards where
the balance of risk against cost and Business
requirements is justified.
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49. Meeting this aim requires commitment, co-operation and the

contribution of all staff. Management has a particular duty to
control Health & Safety risks within their area of
responsibility and all employees also have a role in ensuring
that we can achieve our tasks in a safe and healthy
workplace.
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50. TRADE UNION REPS

The Safety Representatives

and Safety Committees Regulations
1977
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51. HASAW etc ACT1974 SAFETY
REPS & COMMITTEES
(4) Regulations made by the Secretary of State

may provide for the appointment in prescribed
cases by recognised trade unions (within the
meaning of the regulations) of safety
representatives from amongst the employees,
and those representatives shall represent the
employees in consultations with the employers
under subsection (6) below and shall have such
other functions as may be prescribed.
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52. (5) Regulations made by the

Secretary of State may provide for the
election in prescribed cases by
employees of safety representatives
from amongst the employees, and
those representatives shall represent
the employees in consultations with
the employers under subsection (6)
below and may have such other
functions as may be prescribed.
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53. (6) It shall be the duty of every

employer to consult any such
representatives with a view to the
making and maintenance of
arrangements which will enable him
and his employees to cooperate
effectively in promoting and
developing measures to ensure the
health and safety at work of the
employees, and in checking the
effectiveness of such measures.
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54. (7) In such cases as may be prescribed it

shall be the duty of every employer, if
requested to do so by the safety
representatives mentioned in subsections
(4) and (5) above, to establish, in accordance

with regulations made by the Secretary of
State, a safety committee having the function
of keeping under review the measures taken
to ensure the health and safety at work of his
employees and such other functions as may
be prescribed.
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55. The End
Move on to Part 2
Jim McCann
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