The HSWA applies to everyone “at work”, which includes employers, the self-employed and employees. It also protects the general public. HSWA 1974 imposes duties and responsibilities on employers, the self-employed and employees. The most important duties found in the Act are:

DUTIES ON EMPLOYERS

Section 2 of the HSWA 1974 states that it is the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

Section 3 of the HSWA 1974 compels every employer to ensure that persons not in his employment are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

WHAT IS A RISK ASSESSMENT?

A risk assessment is a careful examination of what could cause harm to you or to other people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or whether you should do more to prevent harm.

Regulation 3(1) of the management regulations requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of:

• the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed; and

• the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment.

The purpose of the assessment is to identify what is needed, in terms of preventative and protective measures, to comply with the law.

Preventative and protective measures must be identified and implemented. In particular, there is a duty under HSWA s2(2)(a) to provide and maintain systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health.

Regulation 3(2) of the management regulations imposes similar requirements on self-employed persons.

The management regulations also specify that an employer who employs five or more persons must record the significant findings of their risk assessments and any group of employees identified as being especially at risk.

Regulation 3(3) requires a risk assessment to be reviewed when there is a reason to suspect that it is no longer valid; or if there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates.

WHO SHOULD CARRY OUT THE RISK ASSESSMENT?

Such persons must have sufficient training and experience or knowledge in order to be able to identify risks and evaluate the effectiveness of precautions to control those risks.

DUTIES ON EMPLOYEES AS WELL

Section 7 of the HSWA 1974 provides a duty on every employee, while at work, to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and of other persons who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work.

ENFORCEMENT

The HSWA 1974 gives powers to enforcement officers to produce legal notices requiring a person or company to do or stop doing something. The two types of notices are:

• Improvement - which state what is wrong and how to put it right within a set time.

• Prohibition - which prohibit the use of unsafe equipment/practices immediately.

The maximum fine in a magistrates’ court is £20,000 for breaches of the main sections of HSWA 1974 and £5,000 for other offences. In the crown court there is no limit on the fine. Some offences can result in a prison sentence of up to two years.

Failure to comply with provisions of the management regulations is also a criminal offence. The maximum fine in magistrates’ courts is £5,000. A crown court fine is unlimited.

Poppy Williams is solicitor for DLA Piper UK LLP