A Quick Guide to Health and Safety

R Gilbert

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781845695002
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Industrial Health & Safety
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Health and safety issues now impose upon almost every part of business life. The system of enforcement is managed and implemented in the UK by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – but at times it can be difficult to know exactly which bits of this elaborate spider's web should be applied in a given instance, and which are most important. This Quick Guide puts the subject into context, providing a rational overview and a valid starting point to applying health and safety in the workplace, and offers a concise and readily accessible interpretation of what health and safety legislation means in practice.

• Puts health and safety in to context
• Provides a rational overview and starting point to applying health and safety in the workplace
• Offers a concise interpretation of health and safety legislation in practice

Chapter 1

Health and Safety Legislation – How Much is There?

Publisher Summary

This chapter presents that there is a lot of Health and Safety (H&S) legislation. In recent years, more than 25 statutory instruments have been enacted, governing the protection of employees and others in the workplace and the public from activities carried on in the workplace. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) is the foundation of most of the present-day legislation. The chapter discusses the main objectives of the HSW Act. The HSW Act does not go into great detail specifying “how― to be safe; it merely says, “you will be safe.― The act lays down the principles and is the foundation for many of the subsequent and more detailed legislation. The chapter discusses the other legislations that are bolted on to the HSW Act. Much of the recent health and safety law and regulations have resulted from EC directives. When the EC issues such directives, member states are required to enact legislation that implements the directives in the member state.

The answer is ‘a lot’. In recent years more than 25 statutory instruments have been enacted, governing the protection of employees and others in the workplace, and the public from activities carried on in the workplace. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) is the foundation of most of the present-day legislation. Here are its main objectives:

• 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.

• 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.

This is frequently summarised as the employer’s duty of care.

The act also places similar duties on manufacturers, namely:

• It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed as to be safe and without risks to health when properly used.

The HSW Act does not go into great detail specifying ‘how’ to be safe; it merely says, ‘you will be safe’. The act, however, lays down the principles and is the foundation for many of the subsequent and more detailed legislation.

1.1 Some of the other legislation

You now need to be aware of other legislation (regulations) which are bolted on to the HSW Act. There are a lot, and we will try to cover the main points of the more generally applicable ones in subsequent chapters. Much of our recent Health and Safety (H&S) law and regulations have resulted from EC directives. When the EC issues such directives, member states are required to enact legislation that implements the directives in the member state. For example, the Manual Handling Operations Regulations implement the EC directive on manual handling (90/269/EEC).

One of the subsequent regulations can also be considered as very much a fundamental one, namely: Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (the Management Regulations).

These regulations generally make more explicit what employers are required to do to manage H&S under the HSW Act, and, like the HSW Act, they apply to every work activity. The main requirement on employers is to carry out a risk assessment. More on this later.

In order to help make you aware of the existence of some of the other major regulations, their title, and a one-line description, are listed below:

• Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977.

• Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.

• Noise at Work Regulations 1989 replaced by The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005.

• Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989.

• Dangerous Substances (Notification and Marking of Sites) Regulations 1990. Relevant if you have large quantities < 25 tonnes.

• Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Deals with general matters in the workplace itself.

• Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. Deals with the use of PPE.

• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Deals with all manual lifting, pushing, pulling, etc.

• Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. Deals with computer screen work and the like.

• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM Regulations). Deals with the management of safety on construction projects. There are exemptions for small projects.

• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). Deals with what has to be reported and when.

• Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996. Deals with general matters on construction and building sites.

• Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996.

• Confined Spaces Regulations 1997. Deals with how to work safely in confined spaces, e.g. closed tanks, vessels, sewers, pits, etc.

• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). Deals with all work equipment (including machinery), its maintenance, inspection and guarding requirements.

• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER). Deals with non-manual lifting eq...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Inside Front Cover
• Copyright
• The Quick Guide Series
• Invitation to New Authors
• Introduction
• Your 10 Minute A–Z Guide to Health and Safety
• Chapter 1: Health and Safety Legislation – How Much is There?
• Chapter 2: Enforcement and the Legal Situation
• Chapter 3: Health and Safety … so What Business are You in?
• Chapter 4: The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) and What it Means
• Chapter 5: Risks and Risk Assessments – What are They?
• Chapter 6: Health, Safety and Welfare Requirements in the Workplace
• Chapter 7: Machinery and Other Work Equipment
• Chapter 8: Pressure Plant and Equipment
• Chapter 9: Lifting and Handling
• Chapter 10: Noise
• Chapter 11: Hazardous Substances
• Chapter 12: Electricity
• Chapter 13: Working at Height
• Chapter 14: VDUs
• Chapter 15: What to do About Protecting Employees
• Chapter 16: Other Health and Safety Matters
• Chapter 17: Will You be Prosecuted?
• References
• Index