Health and Safety Law

The legal position

The concept that employees should be safe at work is not a recent phenomenon. Legislation was developed in the 1970s to streamline the many different statutes governing safety issues making management responsible for the provision and maintenance of adequate standards and policies. But although there are many different statutes governing safety issues, health and safety is not only governed by legislation. Under what is known as ‘common law’ all employers have a duty of care imposed on them to protect their employees. There is also a term implied into all employment contracts requiring employers to take care of their employees’ health and safety. For example, employers must:

  • provide a safe place of work
  • provide a safe system of work
  • provide adequate plant and equipment
  • recruit competent and safety conscious staff.

If an employer fails to take reasonable care in any of these areas, an employee may have a number of claims, including the ability to resign and claim constructive unfair dismissal. Employees, too, have responsibilities and should work with their employer to develop a safe place of work.

Main legislation

The legislation relating to health and safety is very extensive. One of the most important statutes is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA). All work places are covered by this legislation which says that an employer must do everything reasonably practicable to provide a safe and healthy workplace with adequate welfare facilities. HSWA has been supported and extended by various sets of regulations, codes of practice and guidance, all of which deal with various aspects of health and safety.

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were established under the HSWA to respectively decide upon and implement health and safety policy. In January 2008 a draft order was issued to implement the merger of the two bodies.

Some examples of other relevant legislation includes:

  • Occupiers Liability Act 1957
  • Health and Safety Inquiries (Procedure) Regulations 1975 (SI 1975/335) 
  • Employer’s Health and Safety Policy Statements (Exemptions) Regulations 1975 (SI 1975/1584)
  • Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 (SI 1981/917)
  • Occupiers Liability Act 1984
  • Public Interest Disclosure Act 1988
  • Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/635)
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2051)
  • Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2932)
  • Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2793)
  • Workplace (Health, Safety, and Welfare) Regulations 1992(SI 1992/3004).
  • Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2966)
  • Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2792)
  • Health and Safety Information for Employees (Modifications and Repeals) Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/2923)
  • Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/3163) – known as RIDDOR
  • Employment Rights Act 1996
  • Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/1513)
  • Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1840)
  • Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/494)
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/3242)
  • Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2677) – known as COSHH
  • Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2174)
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work and Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2457)
  • Control of Major Accident Hazards (Amendment) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1088)
  • Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1082)
  • Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1643)
  • Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/2739)
  • The Health Act 2006 and the regulations made under it relating to the smoking ban in enclosed premises, including workplaces – see our factsheet on smoking at work for more information.
  • Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/320). 

The Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833), as subsequently amended, are also an important piece of health and safety legislation – see our factsheet on hours of work for more information.

In addition to extensive legislation, there is ongoing research and consultation concerning workplace health and safety.

Employers’ duties to provide a safe and healthy working environment arise from the core principles of negligence, contract, and the numerous specific statutory duties referred to above.

Employers should, at least:

  • publish a health and safety policy
  • arrange for the appointment of health and safety representatives
  • establish a health and safety committee if requested by a recognised trade union
  • appoint a competent person to evaluate risks and hazards
  • arrange periodic risk assessments
  • consult with employee health and safety representatives
  • prevent risks
  • inform staff of risks
  • combat risks at source
  • arrange protection from unavoidable risks
  • provide safety training
  • monitor and improve safety arrangements
  • provide health-risk surveillance
  • adapt work to the individual especially with respect to the design of workplaces
  • alleviate monotonous work
  • develop a prevention policy
  • appoint one or more competent persons to assist in undertaking preventative and protective measures
  • establish procedures to be followed in the event of serious and imminent danger to persons working in the organisation
  • require persons at work who are exposed to serious and imminent danger to be informed of the nature of the hazards and steps taken to protect them
  • provide comprehensible and relevant health and safety information
  • provide adequate health and safety training during working hours.

Producing a policy

All employers with more than five employees must have a statement of their health and safety policy. This statement must:

  • be written
  • be carefully thought through and demonstrate a commitment to managing health and safety
  • be workable
  • contains a general statement of intent to provide a safe and healthy working environment
  • be easily accessible and brought to the attention of all employees
  • give details of the health and safety responsibilities within the organisation
  • name key individuals
  • cover the systems and procedures in place
  • refer to other documents where appropriate
  • cover managing risk assessments
  • include arrangements for employee consultation, maintaining equipment, safe handling of substances
  • explain arrangements for training, supervision, accidents, first aid and emergencies
  • address stress, and drink and drug misuse.

Policies should be produced after consultation with employees and after conducting surveys on staff attitudes to health and safety. They should be also applied uniformly and there should be a system for regularly monitoring and reviewing the policy to ensure that it complies with current legislation. The adoption of a tailor-made policy is best practice and entirely 'off the shelf' policies are discouraged. The obligation to provide a health and safety policy originally arises under section 2(3) of the HSWA. In cases of flagrant disregard, enforcement officers may issue improvement notices which if contravened lead to the ultimate potential sanctions of criminal penalties, including large fines and imprisonment.

Employers’ duties at a place of work

Some key examples of the employer’s duties with respect to a place of work include:

  • Under section 2 of HSWA, employers have an obligation to provide and maintain systems of work and a working environment which are, as far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risk to health. The duty extends to providing maintenance of safe plant and systems of work, information, training, supervision and adequate support.
  • Under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 a duties arise to provide employees and other visitors with a safe place of work.
  • All employers must take out and maintain an insurance policy known as an Employer's Liability Insurance Certificate to cover against any diseases or injuries to employees sustained in the workplace. The Certificate must be displayed where it is visible to employees. Employers who fail to display the Certificate or fail to insure against liability may be fined.
  • Fire is a hazard in all workplaces. By law, all organisations must take precautionary measures by controlling fire risks and providing fire escape routes. Employers have legal responsibility for fire safety and fire authorities no longer provide routine advice on the fire precautions employers should take. Employers must carry out a fire safety risk assessment; those with five or more employees have additional record keeping responsibilities. Employers must also inform workers of fire risks and provide training in fire safety procedures and escape drills.  
  • The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 lay down minimum standards for workplaces and work in or near buildings. Employer’s duties include:
    • maintaining the workplace, equipment, devices and systems
    • providing ventilation by sufficient quantity of fresh and purified air
    • maintaining a reasonable temperature, and provision of thermometers
    • ensuring suitable, sufficient and natural light so far as is reasonably practicable
    • providing a clean workplace where waste materials must not be permitted to accumulate
    • providing sufficient floor area, height and unoccupied space
    • providing suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences at readily accessible places.

Inspectors from the local authority Environmental Health Department, or HSE are responsible for enforcing health and safety law, and organisations can be prosecuted for breaches. All workplaces must be registered with either of these two bodies. Employees can report any breaches of the legislation or seek advice from them.

Risk assessment

A risk assessment is a vigilant examination of what, in a place of work, could cause harm to people so that the employer can assess if they have taken sufficient precautions to prevent damage and injury. Every employer must make a regular assessment of their premises to assess a number of risks. Self-employed workers have a duty to assess risks to themselves and others. 
There are many detailed regulations that require risks in different industries to be assessed. 

Risk assessments typically take the following 5-step approach:

  • look for the hazards
  • decide who might be harmed and how
  • evaluate the risks and decide whether the existing precautions are adequate or whether more should be done
  • record their findings
  • review their assessment and revise it if necessary.

Risk assessments must include, for example:

  • measures needed to comply with the health and safety fire precautions
  • assessment of the risks to young people, taking immaturity and other factors into account
  • assessment of risks to new and expectant mothers - failure to carry out such assessments can amount to sex discrimination.

Areas where risk assessments can be carried out are:

  • workstations for users of personal computers
  • assessment of noise levels
  • safety audits to identify potential hazards conducted by accredited auditors
  • handling and lifting heavy loads.

Following a risk assessment, employers must make arrangements to implement any necessary measures and arrange for the provision of appropriate information and training.

Accidents and disease at work

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 (known as RIDDOR) require employers to report any of the following to the HSE or the local council at once:

  • fatal accidents
  • major injury or conditions which require medical treatment
  • dangerous occurrences.

Other matters should be reported immediately, by telephone preferably, followed by a written report within seven days. These are:

  • accidents that prevent a worker from doing their normal work for more than three days
  • certain work-related diseases (poisoning, lung diseases, infections and other conditions must be reported when linked to specified types of work)
  • certain gas incidents.

Employers are legally obliged to provide resources for first-aid and inform all employees of the arrangements for getting first aid. Treatment of injured workers must be addressed without delay by an appointed first-aider and / or appointed person. An employer must record all workplace injuries, diseases, dangerous occurrences, or certain near accidents in an accident book. Employees must also report any accidents or illnesses caused by work and record the details in the accident book.

Absence management, stress and well-being

Absence management, both of short-term and long-term sickness, continues to be an issue. In particular, stress in the workplace has become a major cause of concern in recent years and has been the subject of several high-profile court cases and settlements. It is also quoted as one of the main reasons for absence. The employer’s duty of care and an increasing emphasis of EU legislation to make employers look after the physical as well as the psychological health of employees is bringing a move towards the concept of ‘wellness’ being promoted in some organisations. This aim aims to promote a preventative approach to dealing with illness issues.

Source:The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health www.iosh.co.uk

Health and Safety Pracationers for SBM Safety Solutions practioners are chartered members of IOSH

Environmental Law

Introduction

You have a legal responsibility for the impact your business has on the environment. For example, it's up to you to ensure that your waste is treated and disposed of properly. Going beyond environmental compliance can also bring business benefits, for example selling your waste to an organisation that could reuse or recycle it could make you money and save on disposal costs.

Many businesses have realised that acting in a socially and environmentally responsible way is more than just an ethical duty. It affects your bottom line and the long-term success of your business.

Compliance with environmental legislation is a basic minimum requirement for any responsible organisation. Legislation continues to develop at a frenetic pace. Many of the UK statutory requirements are based on the requirements of EU law. A recent trend is the tendency towards the use of trading and economic incentives, away from the "command and control" style of regulation.

Fairly recently a diverse range of legislation has been implemented in the UK including the Landfill Tax Regulations, Special Waste Regulations, Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations, the Control of Pollution Regulations, Packaging Regulations, Air Quality Regulations, Groundwater Regulations and Surface Water Regulations. The list is extensive, and clearly goes beyond the scope of this introduction.

A major development with implications for businesses of all sizes was the introduction of the Climate Change Levy in April 2001. The levy is intended to help the UK meet its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 12.5% by 2012, based on 1990 levels. A new system of Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) also forms a major piece of legislation within the UK. This is based on a 1996 EU Directive, and brings a range of industrial installations under a new control regime.

Environmental Issues

Different types of business have their own particular environmental concerns. For example:

  • agricultural businesses can have a significant environmental impact through the chemicals and water that they use
  • factory processes may use large amounts of energy or involve hazardous substances and emissions
  • construction businesses may cause pollution and create large amounts of waste
  • office businesses may use significant amounts of energy or create waste (paper, electrical equipment, etc)
  • retailers and wholesalers may create large amounts of packaging
  • transport businesses may use large amounts of fuel and create significant vehicle emissions

Whatever business you're in, it's a good idea to take advice on the major issues. Find guidance on environmental legislation and good practice for your business on the NetRegs website - www.netregs.gov.uk

Conduct an environmental review of your business to see what you need to do to comply with the law and how you could minimise waste. 

You may need to engage an environmental consultant such as SBM Safety Solutions Ltd. to help you deal with your environmental responsibilities and advise on other issues, such as insurance and business development plans. In certain business sectors, such as quarrying, engineering and chemicals, consultants are used more often. 

Comply with key environmental legislation

There's a range of environmental rules your business may have to comply with. You must store wastesafely and securely, make sure it is treated appropriately, ensure it is collected by an authorised organisation (such as your local authority or a licensed private waste contractor) and complete a waste transfer note or consignment note when waste is handed over.

Ensure you do not cause a statutory nuisancewhich could affect someone's health or annoy your neighbours. For instance, you could cause a nuisance by producing noise, smoke, fumes, gases, dust, odour, light pollution or accumulating rubbish.

Get permission from your water company before you allow trade effluentsuch as waste chemicals, detergents, cooling or cleaning water to enter the sewerage system.

If your business turns over more than £2 million and handles more than 50 tonnes of packagingper year, you must register with your environmental regulator (the Environment Agency in England and Wales ), or join an approved compliance scheme. You must then provide evidence that you're recovering and recycling a set amount of packaging waste.

Make sure that you comply with restrictions on the storage and use of hazardous substances. Ensure that any hazardous wasteyour business produces is correctly classified and described, and is either disposed of or recovered at an appropriately authorised facility.

There are also specific environmental rules covering a wide range of businesses - from construction and electronics to textiles and chemicals manufacture. 

Who ensures that environmental legislation is being complied with?

There are three main environmental regulators in the UK:

  • the Environment Agency in England and Wales
  • the Northern Ireland Environment Agency
  • the Scottish Environment Protection Agency

The environmental regulators have produced the NetRegs website, which provides free environmental guidance.

Your local authority is also responsible for regulating some environmental issues such as:

  • air quality
  • statutory nuisance problems such as air pollution, noise, odour and light pollution
  • land contamination
  • environmental health

Your local authority can also help you achieve compliance with various aspects of environmental legislation.

You may require a permit or licence if your business poses certain types of environmental risk. For example if your business:

  • collects or transports wasteon behalf of others, or transports your own construction or demolition waste, you must register as a waste carrier with your environmental regulator
  • carries out waste activitiessuch as treating, storing or disposing of other people's waste, you may need an environmental permit or an exemption from your environmental regulator
  • carries out industrial, waste or intensive agricultural activities, or uses hazardous substances such as solvents, you may need an environmental permit from your local authority or environmental regulator
  • allows anything other thanclean, uncontaminated waterfrom your premises into watercourses or surface water drains, you must have a discharge consent from your environmental regulator
  • discharges trade effluentinto the sewerage system, you must get consent from your water company or water authority

The business benefits of good environmental and sustainable practices

Complying with legislation and going further to adopt environmental and sustainable practices can benefit your business. For example:

  • Reducing your energy use can save you money.
  • Reducing your use of raw materials and water can cut your costs, minimise your waste and lower your waste water disposal bills.
  • Recycling equipment and materials could make you money and save on disposal costs - you may be able to sell old equipment or parts to subsidise the cost of buying new ones.

Your business could also enjoy other benefits. Many government organisations and large companies will only work with suppliers who take their environmental responsibilities seriously. You may also find it easier to attract investment from banks and other sources of finance.

Sustainable developmentcan create opportunities for your business. As well as making financial savings, you can enhance your reputation and brand value by fostering customer loyalty and motivating staff. You can also use sustainable development as an opportunity to encourage innovation, increase investment and open new markets.

Hazardous substances covered by environmental legislation

Special environmental rules cover potentially dangerous substances. Every business needs to think about the risks to people or the environment posed by chemicals or substances classified as hazardous to health under the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 (CHIP).

Hazardous substances are tightly regulated. They include:

  • animal by-products
  • chemicals
  • oil
  • ozone-depleting substances
  • pesticides and biocides
  • radioactive materials
  • hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment
  • solvents

You must consider the environmental risks for every hazardous substance you store, use, produce or dispose of at work. You must ensure you control any potential risks and comply with legislation when storing goods and materials.

If you manufacture chemicals, you may have to comply with the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) Regulations. Businesses manufacturing or importing any chemicals over one tonne per year will need to be registered.

If you manufacture electrical and electronic equipment you must comply with the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2008 (RoHS). Under RoHS, manufacturers are prevented from placing products on the market that exceed limits on the use of certain hazardous substances including lead, mercury and cadmium.

Checklist: protecting the environment

Here are some of the key steps you need to take to meet your legal obligations and limit the impact your business has on the environment.

  • Make sure that you store wastesafely and securely, that it's dealt with by authorised organisations and you complete and keep the correct documentation. Ensure that you don't cause a statutory nuisanceto your neighbours, for example from the noise, dust, fumes, odour or light that your business creates.
  • Get permission from your environmental regulator if you intend to discharge anything other than clean, uncontaminated water into surface waters or ground water. If you want to put trade effluent (liquid waste) into the sewers you need consent from your water company.
  • Make sure that you store, use and dispose of hazardous substancesproperly.
  • Find out whether you need to comply with rules on packagingand packaging waste.
  • Use resourcessuch as raw materials, water and energy as efficiently as possible.
  • Think about setting up an environmental management systemto help you to improve your environmental performance.
  • Consider using free advice or hiring a consultant (such as SBM Safety Solutions Ltd.) to help your business manage its environmental impacts and become more sustainable.
  • Check environmental legislation that applies to your type of business.

Sources:

Business Link: www.businesslink.gov.uk

NetRegs: www.netregs.gov.uk

Carbon Trust: www.carbontrust.co.uk