Health & Safety Legislation: Implications

Health & Safety in the workplace

We assist in formulating safety statements and best practice guidelines to ensure compliance with health and safety laws and advising on workplace accidents.

Employers are responsible, as far as is reasonably possible, for ensuring a safe workplace for their employees and the burden or liability placed upon employers has significantly increased in the past two hundred years.

Modern Common law duties of Employers

As well as obligations under statute law employers have a common law duty of care to their employees. This duty includes, inter alia, the provision of a safe place of work, safe system of work, the provision of competent staff and proper equipment.

Statutory duties - Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989

For the first time all places of work within the State are afforded protection under the umbrella of one statute. This Act is proactive in seeking to prevent accidents by obliging Employers to assess and address potential risks in their workplace by establishing a regulatory body with enforcement powers.

Employer’s duties to Employees

To ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the safety, health and welfare at work of all his employees. Ten specific matters which an employer must consider when fulfilling the duty imposed are referred to, this list is not exhaustive;

Provide:

• A properly designated & maintained place of work
• A properly designed and maintained means of egress and access
• Properly designed and maintained plant and machinery
• Provide a properly planned, organised and maintained system of work
• Provide information, instruction, training and supervision & suitable protective equipment
• Prepare and revise adequate plans to be followed in emergencies

 This is merely an expanded statement of the existing common law position.

Duties of employees

Section 9 sets out the duties owed of all employees while at work.

• To take reasonable care for their own and other’s safety, health & welfare.
• To co-operate with his/her employer
• To use the protective clothing & equipment provided
• To report dangerous risks of which he/she becomes aware

The section offers considerable assistance to employers defending claims as it enables an Employer to possibly reduce his liability by claiming that an employee failed to comply with the obligations imposed upon him under this section and was thus guilty of contributory negligence.

Safety statements

Under the 1989 Act s.12 every employer must, as soon as possible, prepare a statement in writing which is known as a safety statement. Employers should first assess the workplace and identify any hazards and the safety statememt should then provide a summary of the organisations safety and health goals and objectives, assignment of responsibilities and means of achieving the aims and objectives. The safety statement should demonstrate how the employer intends to comply with the 1989 Act.

What does Health & Safety Regulations cover?

Bullying

In preparation of the Safety Statement employers are obliged to assess the risks associated with bullying. Procedures should follow this risk assessment in order to reduce the level of risk to an acceptable level.

Stress

Employers have both a statutory and common law duty of care to protect their staff against stress. An employer’s duty is not to provide a stress free environment but to reduce/eliminate risks as far as is reasonably practicable. The Employer should carry out a risk assessment of stress as part of their safety statement.

Forseeability

Whilst there have been few cases decided on this point the potential for litigation in this area is growing. The issue of foreseeability has been to the forefront in the evolution of the stress at work case-law. Once an Employer is on notice they are under a higher duty.

Where an Employer becomes aware that an employee is exposed to work related stress he should relieve the employee of his duties on full salary and obtain advice from health professionals. Such an approach will enable the employer to investigate the matter and discharge his/her duty to take reasonable care for his/her employees’ health and safety.

Formal grievance procedures should also be put in place to ensure access to management. Such procedures are central to the avoidance of bullying and stress related claims in that they impose an obligation on the employee to alert the employer of the existence of a bullying / stress-related problem. Each complaint must be comprehensively investigated.

However, it should be noted that some work is regarded as intrinsically containing an element of stress and the voluntary assumption of such jobs creates a degree of defence for the Employer in civil law.

Use of work equipment

All work equipment must comply with certain minimum standards, conditions of use and maintenance and there should be provision of training relating to the proper use of the work equipment.

Manual handling of goods

An employee may be at risk if he is physically unsuited to perform the task in question, is wearing unsuitable clothing and/or does not have the adequate or appropriate knowledge or training. Regular manual training will reduce the exposure of an employer to a claim under this part of the Act.

First Aid

Part IX of the 1993 Regulations imposes a duty on an Employer in respect of first aid.