The purpose of health and safety law in the workplace is to ensure a safe working environment for employees. In the UK, this requires employers to meet health and safety obligations, covered by a vast range of legislation.
Health and safety at work encompasses a wide range of duties and initiatives aimed at maintaining a safe working environment for employees. There are many relevant pieces of legislation and case law which impose legal duties on matters ranging from providing insurance and written policies on health and safety, to education and training for staff, risk assessments and monitoring. There are also numerous initiatives and guidance aimed at promoting a holistic, proactive approach to health and wellbeing issues at work, improving employees’ work performance and reducing sickness absence. Health and safety is sometimes also used as an excuse to justify not permitting some activity when in fact health and safety legislation does not apply.
The main pieces of legislation dealing with different aspects of health and safety are the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. These two set the standards for all health and safety in the UK workplace.
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the UK. It sets out the general duties which:
- employers have towards employees and members of the public;
- employees have to themselves and to each other;
- certain self-employed have towards themselves and others.
You can read the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in full on legislation.gov.uk.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 were introduced to reinforce the Health and Safety Act 1974. They explicitly outline what employers are required to do to manage health and safety and apply to every work activity. The regulations place a set of duties on employers and employees to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. As a minimum, you should have the processes and procedures required to meet the legal requirements, including:
- a written health and safety policy (if you employ five or more people);
- assessments of the risks to employees, contractors, customers, partners, and any other people who could be affected by your activities – and record the significant findings in writing (if you employ five or more people). Any risk assessment must be ‘suitable and sufficient’;
- arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures that come from risk assessment;
- access to competent health and safety advice;
- providing employees with information about the risks in your workplace and how they are protected;
- instruction and training for employees in how to deal with the risks;
- ensuring there is adequate and appropriate supervision in place;
- consulting with employees about their risks at work and current preventive and protective measures.
Together these form the legal framework for health and safety in the workplace. If you have any questions on any of the above, please get in touch with the office: sally.phillips@wardwilliams.co.uk or call 01932 830664.