The Health and Safety at Work act 1974

The Health and Safety at Work act (1974)

The Health and Safety act • The Health and Safety work act was introduced in 1974, and is the primary act covering work Health and Safety in the UK. • The Act lays down general principles for the management of health and safety at work. • In your workplace everyone is responsible for Health and Safety. • The keys points of the act are: • • • The Act aims to place general duties on employees, managers and people in control of work premises. You must have a health and safety policy if you employ more than 5 people. Everyone is responsible for health and safety in your workplace but you must have a health and safety representative in your workplace. It pledges rules for the possession and use of dangerous substances and sets targets for controlling certain emissions. It is the most important law in a business.

Who is responsible? • The people responsible for health and safety in a workplace are yourselves, employers and any health and safety representatives. If there is an issue? • If you feel there is a Health and Safety issue in your workplace you can talk to your employer, supervisor or your health and safety representative. Examples of the acts enforcement • On April 11 th 2006 some scaffolding collapsed while two men were working on it. The two companies involved were ordered to pay £ 126, 000 and one man arrested. The act is enforced strictly as health and safety is very important.

The Health and Safety at work act Statistics 1. Health and safety failures cost British employers between £ 3. 3 billion and £ 6. 5 billion every year. 2. There were 241 fatal injuries to workers in 2006/07 a rate of 0. 8 per 100, 000 workers, an increase of 11% on the 2005/05 figures. 35. 7 million working days were lost in 2006/07 from people taking time off because of their illnesses. 4. Falls from height are the most common cause of death and the second most common cause of major injury to employees. 5. The were 30, 213 major injuries to employees in 2004/05. There were 30, 817 in 2003/04. (Over a third was caused by slipping and tripping) 6. The Health and Safety act is 127 pages long!

What if its not taken seriously? • If Health and Safety is not taken seriously then people could do stupid stuff like this. • The health and safety act is in place to prevent dangerous things like these happening and to ensure your well being.

And that is all you need to know about the health and safety at work act! Quick Questions

Did we answer these? • Who is responsible in a workplace for Health and Safety? • What are the key points of the law? • What should you do if you feel there is a health and safety issue? • Did you like the presentation? or