| |  | | What the Law Says | | Find out about health and safety laws and legislation that apply to you with our selection of the common used today | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Find out more about Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 with the esafetysigns overview:
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| Introduction The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 clarify in more general terms what employers are required to do to manage health and safety under HASAWA 74, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Like the Act, they apply to every work activity.
An employers main duty is to be aware of the risks imposed upon its personnel, visitors and themselves by the working operations by assessing the risks and asking questions like; "what are the risks", "how bad are they" and "what do we do to reduce them".
Employers with five or more employees need to keep a written record of risk assessments.
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| The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 clarify in more general terms what employers are required to do to manage health and safety under HASAWA 74, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Like the Act, they apply to every work activity.
An employers main duty is to be aware of the risks imposed upon its personnel, visitors and themselves by the working operations by assessing the risks and asking questions like; "what are the risks", "how bad are they" and "what do we do to reduce them".
Employers with five or more employees need to keep a written record of risk assessments.
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| Risk Assessment A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures.
It is a 5 step process:
| 1 |
Identify the hazards. |
| 2 |
Decide who might be harmed and how. |
| 3 |
Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions. |
| 4 |
Record your findings and implement them. |
| 5 |
Review your risk assessment and update if necessary. |
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| Other Obligations Besides carrying out risk assessment, employers also need to:
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make arrangements for implementing the health and safety measures identified as necessary by the risk assessment;. |
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appoint competent people (often themselves or company colleagues) to help
them to implement the arrangements; |
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set up emergency procedures; |
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provide clear information and training to employees; |
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work together with other employers sharing the same workplace. |
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| Approved Codes of Practise Approved Codes of Practice offer practical examples of good practice.
They give advice on how to comply with the law by, for example, providing a guide to what is ‘reasonably practicable’. For example, if regulations use words like ‘suitable and sufficient’, an Approved Code of Practice can illustrate what this requires in particular circumstances.
Approved Codes of Practice have a special legal status. If employers are prosecuted for a breach of health and safety law, and it is proved that they have not followed the relevant provisions of the Approved Code of Practice, a court can find them at fault unless they can show that they have complied with the law in some other way.
Pay special attention to ACOP's when you review specific Regulations.
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| Regulations Regulations are law, approved by Parliament.
The Health and Safety at Work Act, and general duties in the Management Regulations, are goal-setting and leave employers freedom to decide how to control risks which they identify. Guidance and Approved Codes of Practice give advice.
But some risks are so great, or the proper control measures so costly, that it would not be appropriate to leave employers discretion in deciding what to do about them.
Regulations identify these risks and set out specific action that must be taken. Often these requirements are absolute - to do something without qualification by whether it is reasonably practicable.
The Regulations
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| Health & Safety Six Pack In January 1992, six Regulations on Health and Safety at Work were introduced. Most of the requirements of these Regulations were not new, they simply spelled out in more detail what a responsible employer should already have been doing to comply with the requirements of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.
| 1 |
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 |
| 2 |
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 |
| 3 |
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 |
| 4 |
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 |
| 5 |
Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 |
| 6 |
Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 |
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