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Health and Safety Regulations
Management of Health and Safety
Regulations 1992
These elaborate the employer's broad duties in relation to H&S management
(HASAW Act 1974.) and apply to almost all work activities in the UK and offshore. Basically the regulations require employers to demonstrate that they have adopted a systematic and controlled approach to dealing with health and safety and risk assessment.
Employers must
• do risk assessment
Employers must assess the risks to the health and safety of
employees and anyone else affected by the work activity.
• necessary preventive and protective measures must be identified.
• employers with five or more staff must record the findings of risk audits and how
plans and controls are implemented.
• An employer need not duplicate assessment work. Assessments done e.g. for
compliance with COSHH are likely to contribute to servicing the management
regulations.
• Employers must devise and implement arrangements for putting measures (plans,
organisational arrangements, control systems, monitoring and review methods
etc) that follow from risk assessment, into practice.
This includes
• emergency procedures
• co-operating with other employers sharing a work site
• providing employees with clear, understandable information about H&S
matters, ensure they have adequate H&S training and are capable enough
at their jobs to avoid risks
• temporary workers must be provided with particular H&S information to
meet special needs.
• if a risk audit identifies health needs, then employers must provide appropriate
health surveillance for employees
• when developing and applying measures needed for compliance, employers must
appoint competent people (internal or external)
Employee duties
• Employees are explicitly required to follow H&S instructions and report
dangers
• the law requiring consultation of employee safety representatives is
extended.
Facilities must be provided for safety reps.
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992
These consolidate (implementation up to 1997) existing rules (the legacy of piecemeal laws from the past) covering work equipment used across different industries. Duties and minimum requirements are defined for equipment to deal with selected hazards irrespective of the industry. Some up-grades to older equipment may be needed.
General Employer Duties
• make sure equipment is suitable for the use that will be made of it. Work
equipment - covers everything: a hand tool, machines of all kinds, a
complete plant such as a refinery. Use - includes starting, stopping,
repairing, modifying, installing, dismantling, programming, setting,
transporting, maintaining, servicing and cleaning.
• take into account the working conditions and hazards of the workplace
when selecting equipment
• ensure equipment is used only for the operations and conditions for which,
it is suitable and that it is maintained efficiently (working order and good
repair)
• give adequate information, instruction and training on the equipment
• ensure equipment conforms with EU product safety directives.
The
regulations specifically reference
• guarding of dangerous parts of machinery (replaces current law) and
equipment stability
• specified hazards ie falling/ejected articles and substances,
rupture/disintegration of equipment parts, equipment catching fire or
overheating, unintended or premature discharges, explosions
• equipment parts and substances at high or very low temperatures
• control systems and devices, maintenance operations, warnings and
markings.
• isolation of equipment from sources of energy
•
lighting
Further directives set out conditions that much new
equipment (especially machinery) must satisfy before it can be sold in EU states.
Manual Handling of Loads
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
See also the HSE Pages on these regulations.
These regulations and their associated Code of Practice clarify and consolidate existing law (including parts of the Factories Act 1961 and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963) and establish a consistent set of standards for most workplaces including schools, colleges and universities. They replace earlier legislation applying only to factories or offices. There are some new elements e.g. relating to windows and rest facilities, provisions for non-smokers and pregnant/nursing mothers. They make more explicit many aspects of health, safety and welfare which are only implied e.g. in the 1974 Act's general duties.
See Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 - Guidance for the Education Sector.
The HSE Web-site offers more detailed information than summarised below.
The regulations apply to all places of work and cover
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Working environment
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·
temperature indoor workplaces
·
ventilation and lighting including emergency
lighting
·
room dimensions and space |
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Safety
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·
safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles
e.g. traffic routes
(must be wide enough and
marked where necessary and there
must be
enough of them)
·
windows and skylights (safe opening, closing
and cleaning)
·
transparent and translucent doors and
partitions (use of
safety materials and
marking)
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doors, gates and escalators (safety devices)
·
floors (construction and maintenance,
obstructions and
slipping and tripping
hazards)
·
falling a distance and into dangerous
substances falling
objects |
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Facilities
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·
toilets
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washing, eating and changing facilities,
clothing storage,
drinking water
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rest areas (and arrangements to protect
people from the
discomfort of tobacco smoke)
·
rest facilities for pregnant women and
nursing mothers |
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Housekeeping
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·
maintenance of workplace, equipment and
facilities
·
cleanliness
·
removal of waste materials |
From 1996, any workplace within the employer's control comes within the regulations. Others connected with the workplace e.g. owners of buildings, must ensure that requirements falling within their control are satisfied.
The regulations are supported by a Code of Practice (x)
Exclusions
Excluded from these regulations are
• means of transport
• construction sites and sites og mineral resource extraction or exploration
• workplaces on agricultural or forestry land away from main buildings (however
requirements on toilets, washing facilities and drinking water do apply).
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