British Safety Council

Fact sheet: Health & safety in the workplace

Legislation – who does what?:

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAW or HSW) is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom.
The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the Act, as well as a number of other Acts and Statutory Instruments relevant to the working environment.
Health and safety inspectors employed by the Health & Safety Executive or Local Authorities, have powers to enforce the Act.

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

Employers’ responsibilities:

Employers have a legal duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees at work (so far as is reasonably practicable). In general this includes:

Making the workplace safe and without risks to health
Ensuring plant and machinery are safe
Ensuring that work safety systems are in place and followed
Ensuring articles and substances are moved, stored and used safely
Providing adequate welfare facilities
Providing the necessary health & safety information, instruction, training and supervision

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

In particular, employers must:

Assess the risks to employees health and safety
Implement the necessary health and safety measures identified from the assessment

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

In companies with five or more employees, employers must:

Record the significant findings of the risk assessment
Record the arrangements for health and safety measures
Draw up a health and safety policy statement, including the health and safety organisation and arrangements in force, and bring it to their employees attention
Appoint someone competent to assist with health and safety responsibilities (and consult employees or safety representative about this appointment)
Set up emergency procedures
Provide adequate first-aid facilities
Make sure that the workplace satisfies health, safety and welfare requirements in areas such as ventilation, temperature, lighting, sanitary, washing and rest facilities
Make sure that work equipment is suitable for its intended use, so far as health and safety is concerned, and that it is properly maintained and used
Prevent or adequately control exposure to substances which may damage health
Take precautions against danger from flammable or explosive hazards, electrical equipment, noise and radiation;
Avoid hazardous manual handling operations, and where they cannot be avoided, reduce the risk of injury
Provide health surveillance as appropriate
Provide free any protective clothing or equipment, where risks are not adequately controlled by other means
Ensure that appropriate safety signs are provided and maintained
Report certain injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the appropriate health and safety enforcing authority

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

Consulation:

Employers must consult employees or their safety representative on matters relating to health and safety at work, including:

Any change to procedures, equipment or ways of working which may substantially affect health and safety at work
Arrangements for getting competent people to help him/her satisfy health and safety laws
The likely risks and dangers arising from work; measures to reduce or remove these risks; and how employees should deal with a risk or danger
Planning of health and safety training
The health and safety consequences of introducing new technology.

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

Employees’ legal duties:

Taking reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by what they do or do not do
Co-operating with employers on health and safety
Correctly using work items provided by employers – including personal protective equipment - in accordance with training or instructions
Not interfering with or misusing anything provided for health, safety or welfare

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

Reporting:

If employees think there is a health and safety problem in the workplace, they should first discuss it with their employer, supervisor or manager, and may also wish to discuss it with their safety representative, if there is one.

If an employee believes an employer is exposing them to risks or not carrying out legal duties, and has not had a satisfactory answer, they can contact the enforcing authority for health and safety in their workplace.

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

Attitudes to Health & Safety

In 2004, MORI surveyed 1,000 adults from the general population, 1,000 senior members of staff with responsibility for health and safety within their workplace, and 2,002 work adults, to assess attitudes to Health & Safety. Key findings from the survey, conducted for the HSE, included:

The main causes of worry in the workplace for employees are:

Health and safety in the workplace 18%
Job security 15%
Pay 14%

All other issues, for example, work life balance are worried about by five per cent or less.

Source: Attitudes towards health and safety (HSE/MORI)

Generally, how safe do employees feel in the workplace?

Very safe 55%
Fairly safe 36%
A bit unsafe 7%
Very unsafe 2 %

Source: Attitudes towards health and safety (HSE/MORI)

Employer attitudes towards health and safety

Employees were asked how seriously does your employer take health and safety issues?

Very seriously 66%
Fairly seriously 25%
Not very seriously 5%
Not seriously at all 2%
Don’t know 1%

Source: Attitudes towards health and safety (HSE/MORI)

National Health & Safety statistics 2005/06:

Injuries:

212 workers were killed at work - a rate of 0.7 per 100,000 workers
146,076 other injuries to employees were reported - a rate of 562.4 per 100,000 employees
328,000 reportable injuries occurred, according to the Labour Force Survey - a rate of 1200 per 100,000 workers (2004/05)

Fatal injuries:

The most common fatal injuries to workers are; falling from a height, being struck by a moving vehicle and being struck by a moving or falling object. In 2005/06, these three together accounted for 54% of all fatal injuries to workers, 114 out of 212.

The number of workers fatally injured due to falling from a height decreased in 2005/06 from 53 to 46.
The number of deaths due to being struck by a moving vehicle in 2005/06 was 35, the same as 2004/05.
The number of workers fatally injured by being struck by a moving/falling object decreased in 2005/06 from 47 to 33.

Source: Health & Safety Executive Statistics 2005/06

Non-fatal injuries:

Of the 28,605 major injuries to employees reported, over one third were caused by slipping and tripping (2005/06)
Of the 117,471 other injuries to employees reported (causing absence of over three days), two fifths were caused by handling, lifting or carrying.

Source: Health & Safety Executive Statistics 2005/06

Injuries to employees by kind of accident 2005/06:

Injured while handling, lifting or carrying: 52,428
Slips, trips or falls on same level: 38,504
Struck by moving, including flying/falling, object: 16,469
Falls from a height: 7,561
Acts of violence: 6,482
Strike against something fixed or stationary: 6,336
Contact with moving machinery: 4,783
Exposure to/contact with a harmful substance: 3,747
Struck by moving vehicle: 2,408
Injured by an animal: 1,163
Contact with electricity or electrical discharge: 466
Trapped by something collapsing/overturning: 222
Exposure to fire: 280
Exposure to an explosion: 146
Drowning or asphyxiation: 21
Other kind of accident: 4,795
Injuries not classified by kind: 404

Source: Health & Safety Executive Statistics 2005/06

Ill health:

An estimated two million people suffered from ill health which they thought was work-related. Source: Labour Force Survey
523,000 of these were new cases in the last 12 months, with three quarters of the cases attributed to musculoskeletal disorders (e.g. upper limb or back problems), stress, depression or anxiety (05/06).
- Stress depression or anxiety: 195,000
- Musculoskeletal disorders: 190,000
- Other illnesses: 137,000
In 2004, 1969 people died of mesothelioma, the cancer linked to asbestos exposure. Thousands more from died from other occupational cancers and lung diseases.
From 2003 to 2005 about 22,000 new cases of work-related illness per year were reported to hospital specialists and occupational physicians. As with self-reported cases, mental ill health and musculoskeletal disorders were the most common types of illness

Source: Health & Safety Executive Statistics 2005/06

Working days lost:

30 million days were lost overall (1.3 days per worker), 24 million due to work-related ill health and 6 million due to workplace injury

Source: Health & Safety Executive Statistics 2005/06

Government Health & Safety targets:

	Ten-year target	2005/2006 stats
Ill health	On track to meet target	Numbers falling
Fatal/major injuries	Not on track to meet target	Numbers falling
Days lost per worker	On track to meet the target	Numbers falling