Health and Safety At Work etc. Act 1974

The basis of British health and safety law is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The Act aims to protect people’s health from the risk associated with work activities. There are two main bodies in the UK which enforce health and safety standards in places of work, namely:

• The Health and Safety Executive and
• Local authorities

The duties imposed on employers and employees are qualified in the Act by the principle of 'so far as is reasonably practicable'. This means that the degree of risk in a particular workplace or work activity needs to be balanced against the:

• Time
• Trouble
• Cost, and
• Physical Difficulty of taking measures to avoid or reduce the risk.

What the law requires is what good management and common sense would lead employers to do - that is, to look at what the risks are and then take sensible (control) measures to tackle them.

Management of Health And Safety At Work Regulations 1999

Health and Safety responsibility in the workplace lies primarily with the employer. It is therefore the employers who need to make suitable and sufficient arrangements for the management of Health and Safety within their organisation.

The Management Of Health And Safety At Work Regulations 1999 made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies to all work activities. The main requirements are to:

• Carry out a risk assessment.
• Make arrangements for implementing the health and safety measures identified as necessary by the risk assessment.
• Appoint competent people to implement the arrangements.
• Set up emergency procedures.
• Provide information and training to employees.
• Co-operate with other employers sharing the same workplace.