Health and Safety Legislation

Health and safety legislation is currently brought into being by the Health and Safety Commission. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) is supported by the HSE Health and Safety Executive who, along with local authorities, are responsible to the HSC Health and Safety Commission for enforcement of their health and safety legislation.

Modern Health & Safety legislation is primarily built around The Health and Safety at work etc Act 1974.

Additionally there are a wide range of Regulations

Not all regulations apply to all organisations, however, below is a list of those that commonly apply to most companies:

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Reg 1999 (MHSWR)
• Workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992 (WHSWR)
• Health and Safety (display screen equipment) regulations 1992 (DSE regs)
• Personal protective equipment at work regulations 1992 (PPE regs)
• Manual handling operations regulations 1992 (MHOR)
• Provision and use of work equipment regulations 1998 (PUWER)
• The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 SMSR
• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment regulations 1998 LOLER
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health – (COSHH)
• Reporting of injuries diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations (RIDDOR)
• Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 DSE
• The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981

Other common ones include:

• The Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999
• The Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002
• Control of Asbestos regulations 2006

Changes to health and safety legislation and the rulings of the courts makes this a fast moving area that businesses and organisations need to continually keep up to date. Touchstone’s Health and Safety Consultancy ensures that Risk Master health and safety software management system is continually being kept up to date.