The Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 (HSWA) introduced a wide reaching duty of care for employers to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of employees while at work. This duty of care is so broad that it covers every work situation where employees or the general public could be at risk from injury or ill health.
The HSWA has three objectives,
In order to comply with the act, it is essential to identify the risks through risk assessment, reduce and/or eliminate them as far as is reasonably practicable and then maintain the system in place.
Since 1992 the trend in health and safety legislation since then has been towards assessment-based systems, rather than prescriptive limits; examples include the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. This trend continues with legislation, largely emanating from the European Commission; with regulations such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
The HSWA has three objectives,
- Securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work;
- Protecting persons other than persons at work against risks to health or safety arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work;
- Controlling the keeping and use of explosive or highly flammable or otherwise dangerous substances, and generally preventing the unlawful acquisition, possession and use of such substances.
In order to comply with the act, it is essential to identify the risks through risk assessment, reduce and/or eliminate them as far as is reasonably practicable and then maintain the system in place.
Since 1992 the trend in health and safety legislation since then has been towards assessment-based systems, rather than prescriptive limits; examples include the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. This trend continues with legislation, largely emanating from the European Commission; with regulations such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.