In the previous module, you learned that risk assessment is a legal requirement for every workplace and work activity.

This module explains the key legal duties of employers, managers, supervisors and employees under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and related regulations.

You will also learn about the role of the Health and Safety Executive, or HSE, and local authorities, how inspections and enforcement work, and what can happen when safety is not managed properly.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the main health and safety law in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has equivalent law, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland.

Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. They must also protect other people who may be affected, such as contractors, visitors, customers and members of the public.

The Act and the regulations made under it require employers to:

• Carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments.
• Have a written health and safety policy, where five or more people are employed.
• Provide information, instruction, training and supervision.
• Provide safe systems of work, and safe equipment.
• Consult employees on health and safety.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 place further duties on employers. These include:

• Carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments and, where five or more people are employed, record the significant findings.
• Keep risk assessments up to date, especially after significant changes, new equipment or processes, or incidents.
• Provide health surveillance where needed.
• Give employees information and instruction about hazards and safe procedures, and suitable training.
• Appoint competent people to help with health and safety.

Under sections 7 and 8 of the 1974 Act, employees must:

• Take reasonable care of their own safety and health, and that of anyone affected by what they do.
• Co-operate with their employer, and follow the controls set out in the risk assessment.
• Use equipment and protective clothing correctly, as they have been trained.
• Report hazards, defects and unsafe practices as soon as possible.
• Never interfere with or misuse anything provided for safety.

Specific regulations cover particular hazards and activities, and set out the controls required. Examples in Great Britain include:

• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
• The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, known as COSHH.
• The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
• The Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992, and the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997.
• The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

These do not usually need separate assessments. They can form part of your overall risk assessment.

The HSE publishes detailed guidance, free of charge, to help employers comply with the law, including:

• Guidance on the 1974 Act and the regulations made under it.
• Guidance on carrying out risk assessments.
• Approved Codes of Practice, or ACOPs, which give practical advice on complying with specific regulations.

An Approved Code of Practice has a special legal status. If you do not follow it, you must show that you complied with the law in some other way that is just as good.

The Health and Safety Executive is Great Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. Its aim is to protect people and places, and help everyone lead safer and healthier lives.

In lower-risk premises, such as offices, shops, warehouses, hotels and leisure venues, the law is enforced by local authority environmental health officers.

The HSE does not visit every business every year, and it does not write risk assessments for employers. That is the employer’s job.

HSE and local authority inspectors can visit workplaces to check working conditions, investigate incidents, and help employers manage risks. Inspections may be routine, or follow an incident, a complaint, or a known risk. Inspectors look for:

• A suitable, up-to-date risk assessment.
• Effective control measures in place.
• Relevant safety procedures and records.
• Adequate information, instruction and training for employees.

Employers and employees must co-operate with inspectors.

Where inspectors find breaches of the law, they can take formal action:

• An Improvement Notice, requiring a problem to be put right within a set time.
• A Prohibition Notice, where an activity is dangerous. The activity, or the use of equipment, must stop immediately until the risk is controlled.
• Fee for Intervention, where the HSE recovers the cost of its time from an employer found in material breach of the law.
• Prosecution through the courts, for serious breaches.

Failing to comply with health and safety law, or with an enforcement notice, is a criminal offence.

Organisations, and in some cases directors, managers and employees, can be prosecuted. In England and Wales, courts can impose unlimited fines, and some offences carry up to two years in prison.

Beyond the courts, accidents bring human suffering, lost time, higher insurance costs and damage to reputation. Good risk assessment is far cheaper than any of these.