77-701911

Health and Safety Management

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974

ACOPs and Guidance
The Role of the HSE

Mark Swallow MCIOB Tech IOSH

m.swallow@shu.ac.uk
2022/23
 Objectives of this
Session

▪ To introduce the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974

▪ To discuss the main roles and responsibilities under the act
▪ To discuss ACOPs and guidance and how to read these
documents
▪ To discuss the role of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
and site inspectors
▪ To discuss the powers of the Health and Safety Executive
and offences.
Core Resources to
Consider
 Interpretation and Common
Words in this Session
▪ Absolute -
▪ The highest level of duty, must or shall
▪ Practicable –
▪ must be done if it is technically possible or feasible - irrespective of time, difficulty, cost or trouble
▪ Reasonably practicable –

“ As defined in the case Edwards v the national coal board 1949

‘“reasonably practicable” is a narrower term than “physically possible”, and
seems to me to imply that computation must be made by the owner in which
the quantum of risk is placed on one scale and the sacrifice involved in the
measures necessary for averting the risk (whether in time, money or
trouble) is placed in the other, and that, if it be shown that there is a gross
disproportion between them – the defendants discharge their onus on them’
(Hughes & Ferrett, 2016, p14)
 Introduction to Health and Safety
at Work etc Act (HASWA) 1974

▪ What is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASWA)?
▪ HASWA 1974 provides the legal framework to promote, stimulate and encourage high standards of health
and safety in places of work. It protects employees and the public form work activities.
▪ Everyone at work has a duty to comply with the Act, including:
▪ Employers
▪ Self-employed
▪ Those in control of premises
▪ Manufacturers, suppliers, designers.
▪ Employees, trainees
▪ The Act is an Enabling Act – this allows other specific law (regulations) to be introduced or altered
without having at pass another Act of Parliament.
▪ The Act establishes the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), lays out the systems for enforcing the act,
including the penalties for breaches of law
 Introduction to Health and Safety
at Work etc Act (HASWA) 1974

▪ The Act split into 4 parts:

▪ Part I: General duties, HSE, the power to make regulations and Codes of
Practice, enforcement and penalties;

▪ Part II: The Employment Medical Advisory Service

▪ Part III: Building Regulations and Building Act

▪ Part IV: Miscellaneous and general

▪ This session will look at elements of part I only

 PART 1 - Section 2:

“
Duties of Employers

(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and
welfare at work of all his employees
(2)
(a) the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably
practicable, safe and without risks to health.
(b) arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health
in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances; .
(c) The provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of his employees
(d) So far as is reasonably practicable as regards any place of work under the employer’s control, the
maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and
maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks
(e) The provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is, so far as is
reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and
arrangements for their welfare at work
 PART 1 - Section 2:
Duties of Employers

“ (3) it shall be the duty of every employer to

prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise
a written statement of his general policy with
respect to the health and safety at work of his
employees and the organisation”

(where there are 5 or more employees)

▪ To consult with safety representatives and formation of heath

and safety committees where there are recognised trade unions
 PART 1 - Section 3: Duties of
Employers and Self-Employed

“(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far
as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not
thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
(2) It shall be the duty of every self-employed person to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that he and other persons (not being his employees) who
may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety
(3) In such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer and every self-employed
person, in the prescribed circumstances and in the prescribed manner, to give to persons (not being his
employees) who may be affected by the way in which he conducts his undertaking the prescribed
information about such aspects of the way in which he conducts his undertaking as might affect
their health or safety”.
 PART 1 - Section 4: Persons Concerned
with Premises to Persons other than
their Employees
▪ This section identifies duties of those in control of premises to those who are not their employees but use
non-domestic premises as a place of work or as a place where they may use plant or substances provided
for their use there.

(2) It shall be the duty of those who have control of premises give safe means
of access or egress - “to take such measures as it is reasonable for a person in
his position to take to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the
premises, all means of access thereto or egress therefrom available for use by
persons using the premises”
(3) (a) “the maintenance or repair of any premises to which this section
applies or any means of access thereto or egress therefrom; or
(b) the safety of or the absence of risks to health arising from plant or
substances in any such premises”
 PART 1 - Section 5 Persons in
Control of Certain Premises in
Relation to Harmful Emissions into
Atmosphere
▪ General duty of persons in control of premises in relation to
harmful emissions into atmosphere.

“It shall be the duty of the person having control of any

premises of a class prescribed for the purposes of section
1(1)(d) to use the best practicable means for preventing
the emission into the atmosphere from the premises of
noxious or offensive substances and for rendering
harmless and inoffensive such substances as may be so
emitted”
 PART 1 - Section 6: Duties of
Manufacturers etc. as Regards Articles
and Substances for use at Work

(1) It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use
at work or any article of fairground equipment—
(a) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it
will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being set, used, cleaned or maintained by
a person at work;
(b) to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary
for the performance of the duty imposed on him by the preceding paragraph;
(c) to take such steps as are necessary to secure that persons supplied by that person with the article are
provided with adequate information about the use for which the article is designed or has been tested
and about any conditions necessary to ensure that it will be safe and without risks to health at all such
times as are mentioned in paragraph (a) above and when it is being dismantled or disposed of; and
(d) to take such steps as are necessary to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons so
supplied are provided with all such revisions of information provided to them by virtue of the
preceding paragraph as are necessary by reason of its becoming known that anything gives rise to a
serious risk to health or safety.
 PART 1 - Section 7:
Duties of Employees at

“
Work

(7) It shall be the duty of every employee while at work—

(a) to take reasonable care for the health and safety of
himself and of other persons who may be affected by his
acts or omissions at work; and

(b) as regards any duty or requirement imposed on his

employer or any other person by or under any of the relevant
statutory provisions, to co-operate with him so far as is
necessary to enable that duty or requirement to be performed
or complied with.
PART 1 - Section 8: Duty not to
Interfere with or Misuse things
Provided Pursuant to Certain
Provisions

“(8) No person shall intentionally or

recklessly interfere with or misuse
anything provided in the interests of
health, safety or welfare in
pursuance of any of the relevant
statutory provisions”.
PART 1 - Section 9: Duty not to
Charge Employees for things
done or Provided Pursuant to
Certain Specific Requirements

“(9) No employer shall levy or

permit to be levied on any employee
of his any charge in respect of
anything done or provided in
pursuance of any specific
requirement of the relevant
statutory provisions”.
 PART 1 - Section 33: Offences

“It is an offence for a person—

(a) to fail to discharge a duty to
which he is subject by virtue of
sections 2 to 7;
(b) to contravene section 8 or 9;
(c) to contravene any health and
safety regulations ...”
Case Studies UK

They were prosecuted under PART 1 - Section 2:

Duties of Employers of he HASAWA

(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to

ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the
health, safety and welfare at work of all his
employees
(2)
(a) the provision and maintenance of plant
and systems of work that are, so far as is
reasonably practicable, safe and without risks
to health.
 Case Studies UK
A facility services company operating out of Winchester
prison has been fined after a worker suffered from a
broken leg following an incident with a forklift truck.
Company fined after a worker was injured by a forklift
truck (hse-network.com)
Aldershot Magistrates’ Court heard that on 23 May 2019
the employee was injured when they carried out
inspections of drain covers adjacent to the workshop.
Following the collision the employee suffered a broken
leg. The driver was unloading boxes from a delivery to
the canteen. His view was obscured by the forklift load,
which led to the accident.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) into the incident found that the company had
failed to carry out the appropriate risk assessment to
identify and implement risk control measures to ensure
vehicles and pedestrians were not working at the same
time in the same place.
https://www.hse-network.com/company-fined-after-a-
worker-was-injured-by-a-forklift-truck/
 Case Studies UK
Karro Food Ltd – March 2019 – The Yorkshire food manufacturer pleaded guilty to
breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) and was
sentenced to pay a fine of £1.8m after two employees sustained serious injuries after
falling through a roof light while fixing a leaky roof in April 2016.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the roof had several roof lights but
they were not visible due to moss and dirt build-up. The injured employees had not
been made aware of the roof lights.
 Case Studies UK

Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

July 2019 – The UK's biggest train company pleaded

guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the HSWA and was
sentenced to pay a fine of £1m following the death of a
passenger on the Gatwick Express in August 2016 when
his head hit a signal gantry as he leaned out of the train
droplight window travelling at 61mph.

The ORR investigation concluded that the risks

associated with droplight windows should have been
identified by a suitable risk assessment, and control
measures introduced accordingly. However, the
company failed to take the appropriate action.

Simon Brown 24 from East Sussex

 Case Studies UK
Hampshire County Council December 2019
“A child has been left with life-changing injuries
The local authority was found guilty of breaching Section as a result of what was an easily preventable
3(1) of the HSWA and fined £1.4m after a 6-year-old girl incident. Council inspections failed to identify
playing on an unsecured street bollard suffered a life this risk over a long period of time and then,
changing head injury. when alerted to the damage to the bollard,
failed to take the urgent action required to
The HSE's investigation found that the 69kg bollard was prevent injury.”
damaged and not appropriately secured. It had been
reported to the Council prior to the incident and monthly
scheduled inspections had failed to identify the damage
due to insufficient information, instruction and training
provided to the Council's highways department personnel
conducting the inspections.

https://www.mondaq.com/uk/health-safety/886938/health-
and-safety-prosecutions-in-2019#
 Case Studies UK

Celsa Manufacturing (UK) Limited – October 2019 – The

UK's largest reinforcing steel producer pleaded guilty to
breaching Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and
Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and was fined £1.8m after an
explosion at the company's Cardiff Rod and Bar Mill killed two
workers and seriously injured another in November 2015.

The men were working on an accumulator vessel when it

exploded. A HSE investigation found that a flammable
atmosphere developed within the accumulator as hydraulic
lubrication oil was being drained from it.

The flammable atmosphere was ignited by an electric heater

within the accumulator. The investigation also found that the
company failed to assess the risks to which its employees
were exposed when manually draining lubrication oil from
the accumulator, and that the locally developed 'procedure'
was not fully understood or consistently carried out by the
company's employees.
 Case Studies UK
Valero Energy UK Limited – June 2019

The Pembrokeshire oil refinery owner pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the
HSWA and was sentenced to pay a fine of £5m after an explosion killed four workers and
seriously injured another in 2011.

An investigation by the HSE found that the explosion was most likely to have been initiated by
the ignition of a highly flammable atmosphere within the tank, during what should have been a
routine emptying operation in preparation for further cleaning and maintenance.

The investigation also found there had been longstanding failures within the refinery safety
management systems and as a result the risks posed by flammable atmospheres were not
understood or controlled.
 HSE – Register of
Convictions and
Notices
• HSE publicise case study information from convictions and notices
served.
 ACOP and Guidance
• What is an ACOP?
• Not law but special legal status. Produced by the HSE an ACOP
“describes preferred or recommended methods that can be used (or
standards to be met) to comply with the Regulations” (HSE 2014)
• In prosecution, the ACOP can be used along side the law.

• What is a guidance document?

• Issued by the HSE guidance documents are none legal and are not
compulsory but they do contain guidance information for duty holders
to follow which would normally comply with the law.
• Some documents contain both ACOP and guidance
 Example....

Reading
ACOPs and
Guidance

(HSE, 2014, p.23)

 Case Studies UK

10 Minute Break
 Introduction to the HSE

▪ The Health and Safety Executive primary functions are to:

▪ Monitor, review and enforce health and safety in all

industries.
▪ Produce accident statistics and other useful information
▪ Inspect places of work and review practices
▪ Produce approved codes of practice and guidance for
regulations
▪ Investigate accidents
▪ Prosecute for breaches in H&S law
 The HSE Inspectors Roles

▪ The HSE have the power to:

▪ Enter premises at any reasonable time, without prior notice – police can be in attendance if
required
▪ Investigate the premises
▪ Investigate accidents
▪ Take photographs / take samples / remove or dismantle equipment or substances
▪ Request records and documents as necessary (such as method statements, risk assessments etc)
▪ Provide advice and guidance to help to companies or individuals to comply with the law and avoid
injuries and ill health at work
▪ Talk to employees and safety representatives, and exercise powers to help them fulfil their role
▪ Take appropriate enforcement action in relation to any non-compliance (Issuing improvement and
prohibition notices).
▪ HSE operates a Fee for Intervention (FFI) cost recovery scheme HSE: Fee for Intervention - What is
FFI?
 Enforcement Notices
– Improvement
Notice
▪ Improvement notices - section 21 of HASWA 1974

▪ An improvement notice may be served if an inspector is

of the opinion that a person is
▪ contravening one or more of the relevant statutory
provisions, or
▪ is likely that the contravention will continue or be
repeated,.
▪ The notice should give particulars of the reasons why the
officer is of the opinion that a notice is required
▪ Specify the period for compliance
▪ The notice can be appealed (an appeal must be made
within 21 days)
 Enforcement Notices –
Prohibition Notice

▪ Prohibition notices - section 22 of HASWA 1974

▪ A prohibition notice can be served if the inspector is of
the opinion that an activity carried on (or likely to be
carried on) is a risk of serious personal injury.
▪ If this notice is served the activity / site must be stopped
immediately.
▪ The notice should specify what legal requirement has
been contravened
▪ The notice can be appealed (the notice will be in place
during this time)

www.ppconstructionsafety.com
Questions
 References
HSE (2013) Reporting accidents and incidents at work A brief guide to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). HSE
HSE (2015) Managing health and safety in construction, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. HSE
Hughes, P. Ferrett, Ed. (2016) Introduction to health and safety in construction. 5th Edition. Oxon: Routledge
Lacey, J (2015) The Management of Construction Health and Safety Risk. Fourth Edition. Stourbridge: rms

Weblinks
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (legislation.gov.uk)
HSE: Fee for Intervention - What is FFI?

A special thank you to the HSE for resources used in this presentation
 Research Task...

▪ Review part 1 of HASAWA

▪ Why is this act important?
▪ Discuss these clauses and consider an example
from your own experience

▪ For next week....

▪ What are the CDM regulations?
▪ Download the CDM guidance documents