A snippet from my work stuff that may be a bit of bedtime reading!

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA)

Places Duties On:

• Employers
• Self Employed
• Employees
• Persons in Control of Premises
• Designers, Manufacturers, Suppliers
• Importers
• Erectors and Installers
• Other Persons

Duty To Employees (Section 2 HASAWA)

The duty of the employer is to ensure the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work of all his/her employees and includes:

• The provision and maintenance of safe plant and safe systems of work.
• Arrangements for the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances to ensure safety and absence of risk to health.
• Provision of information, instruction, training and supervision.
• Maintenance of the place of work and the access and egress so that they are safe.
• Provision and maintenance of a working environment which is safe and without risk to health.
• Adequate welfare facilities and arrangements.
• All the above are qualified by the term “So far as is reasonably practicable”. This is essentially a balance between cost and risk.

•
Safe Systems of Working (Section 2 (2) (a) HASAWA)

The Health and Safety at Work Act places a duty on the employer to provide and maintain a Safe System of Working. There are a number of fundamental elements of a Safety System of Work which include:

• Assessment of the task to be carried out.
• Identification of the risks involved.
• Task design and physical layout.
• Provision of competent and trained staff.
• Provision of warnings and notices.
• Issue of special instructions.
• Provision of adequate supervision.
• Monitoring to ensure compliance.

Duties To Other Persons Employers - Section 3 HASAWA


Employers and every self employed person have a duty to ensure that their undertakings do not adversely affect persons not in their employment.

Persons in Control of Premises - Section 4 HASAWA

Persons who are in control of premises also owe a duty to persons who may use the premises, the access or egress or any plant or substance provided for their use. The duty is for the persons in control of the premises to take reasonable measures to ensure the health and safety of persons using the premises etc.

Safety Policy(Section 2 (3) HASAWA)

Every employer must prepare a Safety Policy and revise it as often as necessary.

It should comprise: -

• A General Statement of Intent.
• Details of organisation (i.e. who is responsible for what).
• Arrangements for implementing the Policy (i.e. how risks are to be controlled).
• The Policy Statement should be signed by the Chief Executive.
• The Policy should be communicated to every employee.

Duties of Employees (Section 7 HASAWA)


Every employee must take reasonable care for his/her own Health and Safety and that of other persons who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions at work.
Employees must also co-operate with their employer to enable the employer to fulfil his obligations with regards to Health and Safety.

Legal Liability of Managers(Section 37 HASAWA)

All managers are employees and will, therefore, have duties as described in Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Section 37 of HASAWA, however, makes clear that in their role as director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, they may be deemed personally liable as well as the body corporate.
Liability could arise where an offence is committed with their CONSENT or CONNIVANCE, or if it is attributable to their NEGLECT.





Offences Due to the Fault of Others(Section 36 HASAWA)

Where a person commits an offence which is due to the act or default of some other person, then that other person shall be guilty of the offence, and may be charged and convicted for the offence whether the person who committed the original offence is charged or not.


Duties of Designers, Manufacturers Etc (Section 6 HASAWA)

Articles


Any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work has certain duties which include: -

• Ensuring that the article is designed and constructed to be safe etc, when it is set, used, cleaned and maintained.
• Ensuring the carrying out of tests where necessary.
• Ensuring that adequate information is provided about the use etc, and about any conditions that apply when it is being dismantled or disposed of.
• Ensuring that the information provided is revised when necessary.

Duties of Manufacturers, Importers Or Suppliers (Section 6 HASAWA)
Substances


Any person who manufactures, imports or supplies any substance has certain duties, which include:

• Ensuring that the substance will be safe etc. when it is used, handled, processed, stored or transported.
• Ensuring that adequate information is provided about its use, handling etc. and any conditions necessary when it is disposed of.
• Ensuring that revisions of such information are provided when necessary.

Duties of Erectors and Installers(Section 6 HASAWA)

It is the duty of any person who erects or installs any article for use by persons at work to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that nothing about the way in which it is erected or installed makes it unsafe or a risk to health when properly used.








Duties of Other Persons (Section 8 HASAWA)

No person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare.


These Regulations were the most important of the 6 health and safety Regulations which became law on 1 January 1993, the first day of our full membership of the European Union (EU).
In many respects MHSW can be compared to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) in that it is concerned with health and safety management in general terms, whereas the 5 other Regulations introduced on 1 January 1993 addressed specific areas/aspects of Health and Safety.
The Directives from the EU, which required us to enact these Regulations, referred to a ‘Framework Directive’ with 5 ‘Daughter Directives’. The MHSW Regulations are the UK’s interpretation of the EU ’Framework Directive’, with the 5 remaining directives (and our ratifying Regulations) covering Display Screen Equipment, Manual Handling, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare, and The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations respectively.
It can be seen, therefore, that the MHSW Regulations expand upon the requirements and principles of our Health and Safety at Work Act and complement it by ‘fleshing out’ the requirements of the earlier legislation.
In December 1999, the MHSW Regulations were re-issued to reflect the experience of their first 6 years of operation. The notes that follow incorporate the 1999 version.
There are a number of separate ‘Regulations’ within MHSW. Each regulation stands alone, although it can be seen that there is some interaction/overlap. The Regulations are summarised:

Regulation 3 - Risk Assessment


This is the first time that employers have been formally required to produce risk assessments, although risk assessment is fundamental to health and safety.
The requirement is to develop a risk assessment and to publish it if the workforce exceeds 4 persons (NOTE for Network Rail this is 2 persons). The assessment may be kept on an electronic system, but it must be immediately available if a statutory inspector or elected H & S representative wishes to see it. The risk assessment, including the measures to eliminate or ameliorate the dangers highlighted in it, must be communicated to every employee.
The Regulations call for the assessment to be ‘suitable and sufficient’; it must address risks to employees and to any other person who might be affected by the manner in which the business is conducted.
It is important to ‘rank’ risks so that management attention is focussed upon those with the greatest potential for harm. It is important to ensure that operatives have an input to the risk assessment process, recognising that they will know of risks which might not be apparent to management.


Regulation 4 – Principles of Prevention to be Applied

The code of practice covering the MHSW Regulations contained a hierarchy of measures to be followed in managing risk. The effect of this additional regulation introduced in December 1999 is to make adherence to this hierarchy of measures mandatory.

The hierarchy is:

• Avoiding risks.
• Evaluating risks which cannot be avoided.
• Combating risks at source.
• Adapting work to the individual especially as regards the design of workplaces, the choice of equipment and the choice of working and production methods, with a view in particular to alleviating monotonous work and work at a ‘predetermined’ work rate and to reducing their effect on health.
• Adapting to technical progress.
• Replacing the dangerous by the non dangerous or less dangerous.
• Developing a coherent overall prevention policy covering technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the working environment.
• Giving collective protection measures priority over individual protective measures.
• Giving appropriate instructions to employees.

Regulation 5 - Health and Safety Arrangements


This Regulation does not impose a new requirement upon employers. Rather it underlines the importance of keeping every aspect of health and safety, in particular management and monitoring systems under continual review.
If the organisation has a Safety Policy in compliance with Section 2(3) of HASAWA, which is regularly reviewed, updated and is properly communicated to every employee, this should satisfy Regulation 5.
The Policy should be reviewed/reissued at least every 2 years, more often if company arrangements for health and safety, or changes in health and safety law necessitate.

Regulation 6 - Health Surveillance

Calls for the provision of health surveillance for any employee or group of employees, whose work is such that they are exposed to risks to their health.
Usually such cases will have already been identified in order to comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 (COSHH), although an increasing area of concern regarding Health in the Construction industry is HAVS (Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome).



This Regulation now makes the appointment of one or more ‘competent’ Safety Advisors mandatory for every employer; employers must ensure that those appointed are provided with all the information necessary to enable them to carry out their work effectively.
Those appointed may be employees or consultants or both. Although the 1999 update to MHSW enjoins employers to appoint competent advisors from within their own workforce in preference to using external expertise, if they have employees who are competent. The task of those appointed is to advise and guide the employer in complying with health and safety legislation.

Regulation 8 - Procedures for Imminent Danger and Danger Areas

Clearly, not new, but a timely reminder to keep procedures for serious and imminent danger (e.g. fire/bomb threat) under review. In the railway environment, procedures for danger areas (e.g. working on or near the line) have, of course, always existed.

Regulation 9 – Contacts with External Services

Regulation 9 was introduced in December 1999 and requires employers to establish any contacts deemed necessary with ‘external services’, e.g. First Aid, Emergency Medical Care and Rescue Work.

Regulation 10 - Information for Employees


Requires employers to provide ‘comprehensible and relevant’ information to their employees about their risk assessment (Regulation 3), the measures in place to combat the risks, and about their procedures for dealing with serious and imminent danger. They must also be told which staff have key roles in implementing these procedures, e.g. fire wardens.



Regulation 11 - Co-operation and Co-ordination

Where 2 or more employers share a workplace, each must co-operate with the others in respect to compliance with health and safety law, and share information about the risks inherent in their respective businesses.
There are clear implications in this Regulation for the railway now that in many areas, for example stations, a number of different employers might share a workplace.

Regulation 12 - Persons Working On Host Employers or Self-Employed Persons Undertaking

Essentially this requires a host employer not only to fully brief the management of any contractor about to commence work on his premises about the health and safety arrangements, but to ensure that the contractors employees are also thoroughly briefed - in particular about risks, the emergency arrangements, and the identity of those staff who are nominated to manage them.

Regulation 13 - Capabilities and Training

It is the duty of an employer to ensure that his employees are capable of performing the work expected of them. In particular they must provide health and safety training to staff on joining (induction), whenever their work or work circumstances change - including being promoted. This training must be repeated when appropriate.

Regulation 14 - Employees Duties

In addition to the general duty laid upon every employee by the Health and Safety at Work Act to look after themselves and other persons who might be affected by their acts or omission at work, and to co-operate with their employer in all the measures the employer takes to comply with his health and safety duty, this Regulation explicitly requires employees to use all their work tools and equipment in accordance with the training in its use which they have been given.
In addition they must report the following:

• Any serious or imminent danger they become aware of.
• Any other aspect of their employers health and safety arrangements which they believe could be improved.

Regulation 15 - Temporary Workers

It temporary staff are employed - whether through employment agencies or directly, there must be adequate information provided to those so employed about the skills/experience necessary for the job they will be expected to do, and about the health and safety culture and arrangements of the company.
If the work will necessitate their being given health screening, or where PPE will be required, this must be explained to them before joining.
Where temporary staff are hired through an agency, this information must be given to the agency to pass on to the selected/nominated individuals; where the employment is ‘direct’, this information must be provided in advance directly to the temporary staff.
All the above must take place before temporary employment commences


Regulations 16-18 – New or Expectant Mothers and Children and Young Persons

As the title suggests, these regulations recognise the extra or additional workplace risks to which new/expectant mothers, children and young people might be exposed.


New/Expectant Mothers


Every employer who employs women of reproductive capacity must carry out a risk assessment to determine whether any of the work tasks in his operations do or would pose risks to new or expectant mothers and/or the unborn child. This assessment must be in place in readiness, i.e. before a declaration of pregnancy occurs, so that it can be applied immediately such a pregnancy notification is made.

Children and Young People


Children - Persons between 14-16
Young People - Persons between 17-18

Special consideration of the factors listed below should be given to work which is to be done by children or young people.
If children are to be employed, the parent or guardian must be provided with a copy of the risk assessment and details of the measures to be taken to combat the risks identified.

Factors:

• Keenness; anxiety to please; reluctance to ask questions.
• Susceptibility to the influence of older / experienced workers.
• Tendency to commence working before being adequately trained.

A number of work operations/processes are prescribed for young people; also they may not work in places or all operations where extremes of temperature occur or where strength is a prerequisite.