Health and Safety Legislation for Employee Protection at Work

Introduction to Workplace Health and Safety Legislation

Every individual within a workplace environment has the legal right to protection against any work-related risk that may arise in the course of duty performance. Generally, employees' health and safety legislation imposes a range of duties on both employers and employees. Health and safety guides apply to the self-employed as well as diverse categories of workers such as manufacturers, designers, and suppliers. In different jurisdictions, legislation expresses a wide-ranging duty guideline within the Health and Safety at Work Acts. These regulations are further detailed within subsidiary regulations, including those dealing with health and safety management, accident and risk management (Johnson & Geraldine, 2013, p. 57), as well as other emerging issues specific to the health and safety of employees at work. This paper provides an overview of the legislation that protects workplace health and safety with regard to employees' accidents at work, as well as how this legislation may impact safety and health management within a given workplace.

A number of employers view employee accident claims as purely a human resource matter. Nonetheless, there is a short-sightedness in this attitude, since workplace morale can be adversely affected by ongoing accident claims and litigation (Hansson, 2008, p. 36), which may in turn absorb large amounts of management time (Chamberlin, Cottle & Neville, 2007, p. 68). Accidents can be expensive due to time lost during absence from work for treatment, the cost of providing replacement or temporary cover, and the incidental costs of compulsory employers' liability insurance. It is therefore essential to put in place sound policies and legal procedures in order to prevent accidents and to deal effectively with any reports or information concerning employee accidents at work.

Employer Duties Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

The fundamental provisions regarding the health and safety of employees at the workplace are contained within the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This Act forms the foundation for the entire range of statutory regulations. It applies across commerce and industry, creating mandatory responsibilities and duties upon employers to ensure employees are protected against accidents, injuries, or any form of risk (Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2000, p. 79). Such accidents and risks may result from slips, manual handling injuries, trips, falls from height, and working with unfixed or moving parts of machinery and equipment. The 1974 Act is both specific and general in that it covers all workplace activities and can also make particular references to various work sectors.

Section 2 of the 1974 Act outlines that employers have an obligation to pursue reasonable steps towards ensuring the safety, health, and welfare of their employees. Section 7 of this Act lays out the duties of employees, which include taking reasonable care of their own safety as well as the safety and health of their colleagues. This implies that employees' safety and health depends, to a reasonable degree, on individual circumstances such as personal conduct and acts of omission. Consequently, should an employee take an unnecessary risk that leads to injury or accident, that employee will have breached this section of the Act. There are, however, cases in which employers' procedures and policies either ignore employees' obligations for their own care and safety, or pay only lip service to the situation (William, 2001, p. 182).

General Employer Obligations and Safety Policy Requirements

Section 8 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires that every employer should, as far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the safety, health, and welfare of all their employees at work. According to Hansson (2008, p. 34), this section establishes the general duties of an employer and broadly reflects common law principles regarding the duty of care. Such duties may encompass the management and conduct of workplace activities, provision of safe systems of work, ensuring safety and preventing risks, and the provision of adequate welfare facilities (Johnson & Geraldine, 2013, p. 65). Generally, employers have a common law duty of care to ensure, as reasonably and practically as possible, the safety, health, and welfare of all their employees. Employers also have a responsibility to protect non-employees from any risk arising from workplace activities. Where five or more individuals are employed, health and safety policy regulations require every employer to put in place and offer adequate arrangements for the effective organization, planning, monitoring, control, and review of preventive and protective measures for employees (William, 2001, p. 194).

In any workplace where five or more employees are involved, the employer must prepare a written policy statement covering the employees' organizational structure and work arrangements, aimed at ensuring health and safety against any risk or possible accident. Once this policy is formulated, the law requires that the employer bring to the attention of all employees the arrangements made for their safety and the management of workplace risks (Hansson, 2008, p. 40). To assist employers in implementing emergency arrangements and complying with their legal duties, they are required to appoint an adequate number of competent individuals with sufficient time and resources at their disposal. Moreover, a competent panel of health and safety advisors — either drawn from employees with relevant experience and qualifications or from qualified professional consultants — should be responsible for employees' risk assessments and safety and health guidance (Robinson, 2000, p. 44).