Existing Legislation

Health & Safety At Work Act 1974

Here are the key points of health and safety regulation that all workplaces will need to comply with according to the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974:

Provide a safe working environment that is properly maintained and where operations within it are conducted safely.

Provide and maintain safe work equipment and systems.

Have a health and safety policy - workplaces with five or more employees must have this policy documented.

Employees (or employee representatives) must be consulted on relevant policies and associated health and safety arrangements.

Staff must be adequately trained to ensure health and safety procedures are understood and adhered to.

Provide relevant information that is easy to understand; suitable instructions that are simple to follow and competent supervision.

Provide adequate facilities for staff welfare at work.

Prevent the emission of noxious or offensive substances.

HASAWA also established the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to enforce this legislation.

NOTE: Additional or more specific regulations may also be relevant depending on specific business areas or industries

Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992

These regulations apply to most workplaces except; construction work on construction sites, those in or on a ship and those below ground at a mine.

Ultimately, this legislation can be split into three sections – health, safety and welfare

Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999

These regulations were introduced to reinforce the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It places duties on employers and employees.

Employers are required to:

Undertake general risk assessments. Employers with five or more employees must record significant findings
Make arrangements for implementing health and safety measures identified as necessary by the risk assessment
Appoint competent people to oversee workplace health and safety
Have procedures in place to deal with serious and imminent danger (e.g. evacuation procedure)
Provide relevant health and safety information in an understandable form
Ensure employees are given adequate health and safety training
Cooperate with other businesses in a shared workplace and coordinate health and safety activities

Employees are required to:

Report any health and safety shortcomings or dangerous situations
Use equipment in accordance with training and instruction
Take reasonable care of their own health and safety

Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007

The Act itself doesn’t impose new standards; it simply introduces a new offence for not complying with current health and safety laws.

Although the offence of corporate manslaughter (corporate homicide in Scotland) is not part of health and safety law, it introduces a new element into the corporate management of health and safety.

An organisation will be guilty of an offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the deceased.

A substantial part of the breach must have been in the way activities were managed by senior management.

Courts can also impose a publicity order which requires the organisation to publicise details of its conviction and fine.

NOTE: Individuals cannot be prosecuted for the offence, whether as an accessory or otherwise.

The level of sentence will depend on the size of the organisation, but fines can range from:

Fatal Lone Worker Incident

South West Water was fined £1.8 million and ordered to pay over £40,000 in prosecution costs after a lone worker drowned in a filtration tank.

The man was working alone when he attempted to fix a fault with the tank. He removed a grill on the tank and had to lean inside to unblock a filter. He fell through the hole and was found face down in 6.5ft (2m) of water several hours later.

During the investigation and sentencing, South West Water pleaded guilty to breaching section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The judge said: "The dangers of falling into tanks was pointed out to South West Water on a number of occasions, and the fact that something needed to be done. No correct risk assessment for the procedure had been done. This was an accident waiting to happen."

HSE inspector Georgina Speake added, “Mr Geach was exposed to the risk of drowning which could have been easily controlled if the task had been properly planned and simple measures adopted earlier which South West Water failed to do so adequately.”

HSE Fines

Where a workplace incident occurs as the result of a breach of health and safety regulations, employers can face criminal proceedings and be fined up to £10 million by the HSE. With conviction rates as high as 93% employers should do all they can to comply with legislation and protect their staff. Calculate how much you could save on HSE fines by implementing an employee safety service: