In the beginning, there was the Health and Safety at Work Act
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, referred to variously as “HSW”, “HSWA”, “HASAWA 1974” or “HASAWA” (all of which are wrong – it is “HASWA74”, no other acronym is acceptable), is the principal Act of Parliament that defines the framework for managing workplace health and safety in the UK. It is the Rosetta Stone of uk health and safety legislation – and its’ requirements are the key to deciphering the hieroglyphs of managing risk and compliance.
The act defines the general duties of everyone from employers (section 2) and employees (section 7,8) to owners, managers, and maintainers of work premises (etc) for keeping places safe.
The act is a piece of “primary legislation”– i.e. one of the principal laws passed by the legislative bodies of the United Kingdom. The regulations which complement the HASWA74 are known as “statutory instruments” (these are essentially pieces of legislation that could also be referred to as delegated legislation). Statutory instruments serve to make changes, updates, or additions to existing primary legislation without having to create an entirely new Bill/Act.
Statutory Instruments (normally in the form of an ‘Order’ or ‘Regulations’) are laid before the House of Commons and made under powers contained in an existing Act of Parliament – in this case HASWA74 (section 15 – not that it matters).
There is a lot of secondary UK health and safety legislation. We’ll come to that shortly.
Primary duties and notable sections
Section 2
“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 employees.”
- The important parts of this to note are that it applies to “every employer” and to “all employees”. There are no exceptions.
- “So far as is reasonably practicable” has a meaning. The HSE says: “An employer does not have to take measures to avoid or reduce the risk if they are technically impossible or if the time, trouble or cost of the measures would be grossly disproportionate to the risk.”
- 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.
- The baseline requirement is that employers must follow all legal requirements and apply existing best practice unless they can make out a clear argument for doing something different. Best practice includes the HSE Approved Codes of Practice; British, European and international standards; and guidance issued by employer groups and industry bodies.
Section 3
“It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”
- Persons not in [his] employment…who may be affected by [his] undertaking – this has been interpreted widely and would include visitors, trespassers, pupils or students at a school, patients in a clinical setting, contractors working at a business.
- Whether a particular activity is part of the conduct of the undertaking is determined by the facts of each case [R v Associated Octel Co Ltd (1996) 4 All E R 846]. Although not decisive in every case, whether the duty-holder can exercise control over both the conditions of work and where the activity takes place is very important.
Section 7
This places a duty on employees to take reasonable care of the health and safety of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work. The section also places a requirement on the employee to co-operate with their employer to ensure the company complies with its requirements under the Act. It may be surprising to learn that there have been hundreds of prosecutions of individuals under Section 7 – a point often lost on employees.
The HSE “owns” and enforces dozens of regulations – you can find the full list at Legislation owned and enforced by the HSE and Local Authorities which cover everything from asbestos to radiation, but it is worthwhile highlighting some of those more frequently spotted in the courts:
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations are central to H&S compliance – establishing the legal requirement that an employer makes a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of work-based activities and implements any appropriate controls to manage those risks to the health, safety and welfare of their employees (and others). See Managing risks and risk assessment at work – Overview, HSE.
These duties include:
- Providing adequate and proportionate health and safety training for employees.
- Ensuring that there are suitable procedures in place in the event of an emergency event.
- In workplaces where employees may be exposed to noise, vibration, substances hazardous to health, etc, providing of relevant health surveillance.
- Carrying out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to the health, safety and welfare of employees (and others) through operational activities.
- Carrying out specific such risk assessments presented to vulnerable person(s).
- Appointing competent person(s) to manage workplace health and safety.
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 apply to most places of work. They require employers to ensure the working environment is safe, as free from risk as is reasonably possible and that appropriate equipment is provided where necessary. See Workplace health, safety and welfare. Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L24.
The Regulations Cover:
- Display Screen Equipment
- Ventilation and windows
- Maintenance of equipment
- Lighting
- The environment around the working area such as traffic, risk of slips, trips and falls
- Falling objects
- Waste
- Entry and egress
- Facilities such as restrooms, changing rooms and meals/drinks
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (amended 2002)
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations apply to a wide range of manual handling activities, including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying. See Manual handling at work — Musculoskeletal disorders, HSE.
The Regulations Require Employers to:
- Provide information and training on correct manual handling techniques.
- Ensure equipment provided is suitable for the purpose for which it is intended.
- Properly maintain manual handling equipment.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005
The Work at Height regs are aimed at ensuring the safety of individuals working at height. These regulations typically outline specific requirements, procedures, and precautions that must be followed to prevent falls and other accidents when working at elevated locations. See Publications and resources relevant to work at height, HSE.
RIDDOR 1995 and RIDDOR 2013, HSE
RIDDOR requires employers to record and report accidents and injuries at work and applies where there is a dangerous occurrence, injury, accident or disease if the incident is work-related.
- When deciding if an occurrence is reportable, you should consider the following:
- Was the way work is carried out or supervised a contributory factor?
- Was the accident related to any machinery or equipment being used?
- Are the premises in a poorly maintained condition?
If the answer is No to any of the above, a report is probably not necessary.
Resources for complying with uk health and safety legislation
There is help available for businesses to understand what is expected from them when it comes to complying with many of these regulations in the form of the HSE Guidance and ACOPs. See the HSE Books — the official Health and Safety Executive publications shop.
ACOPs are introduced by virtue of s.16 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 (HSWA), which conferred the right for the HSE to introduce Codes of Practice for the purpose of providing practical guidance with respect to the general requirements of the HSWA and regulations made under the Act.
ACOPs have a special legal status. They require the approval of the Secretary of State before they can be introduced. ACOPs are not a legal requirement themselves, but in criminal proceedings they are admissible as evidence, and failure to observe an ACOP can be used to prove a breach of those regulations it supports. This special legal status works both ways. It helps enforcers to secure convictions in court, but it also helps those trying to comply with the regulations, since they know that if they comply with the ACOP they will “automatically” comply with the regulations.
To master UK Health and Safety legislation, download our free eBook today. You can also learn how Notify can help support your compliance requirements by requesting a demo with one of our Safety Experts.
