In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

there are many regulations relevant to health and safety at work. Many of these give effect to

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

directives.

Regulations made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

Breach of the regulations is a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

throughout the UK. In

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

contravention is punishable on

summary conviction A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offen ...

or on

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...

with an unlimited fine. Either an individual or a

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

can be punished, and sentencing practice is published by the

Sentencing Guidelines Council The Sentencing Guidelines Council was a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government, created by s.167 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. It gave authoritative guidance on sentencing to the courts of England and Wales. It was re ...

. In England and Wales, a person who suffered

damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

caused by a breach of the regulations, used to have a

cause of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a ...

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishabl ...

against the offender. However, section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 repealed this right of action. This prevents a claimant for claiming damages against an employer for contravention of an absolute duty. Instead, they must now prove that the employer was negligent as with other torts. A similar right of action exists in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

through the law of

delict Delict (from Latin ''dēlictum'', past participle of ''dēlinquere'' ‘to be at fault, offend’) is a term in civil and mixed law jurisdictions whose exact meaning varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but is always centered on the notion of ...

The "six pack" regulations

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, commonly abbreviated to PUWER 1998 or simply PUWER, is a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom (1998 No. 2306). It regulates the standards of safety for equipment used in work environments. ...

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 Manual handling of loads (MHL), manual material handling (MMH) involves the use of the human body to lift, lower, carry or transfer loads. The average person is exposed to manual lifting of loads in the work place, in recreational atmospheres, and ...

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 is a United Kingdom Statutory Instrument that stipulates general requirements on accommodation standards for nearly all workplaces. The regulations implemented European Union directive ...

Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 are a set of regulations created under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which came into force in Great Britain on 1 January 1993. The regulations place a duty on every employer ...

Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

Worker consultation

*Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 *Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 Both of these (as amended) are supported by Approved Codes of Practice and guidance issued by the

Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...

(HSE). *Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989

Other

*Dangerous Substances in Harbour Areas Regulations 1987 *Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 *Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/2038) *The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/1713) *

Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) are set of regulations created under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which came into force in Great Britain on 5 December 1998 and replaced a number of other piece ...

*Transport of Dangerous Goods (Safety Advisers) Regulations *

Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 The Ionising Radiations Regulations (IRR) are statutory instruments which form the main legal requirements for the use and control of ionising radiation in the United Kingdom. There have been several versions of the regulations, the current legis ...

*Pressure Equipment Regulations 1999 *Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR, SI 2000/128), replacing the earlier Pressure Systems and Transportable Gas Containers Regulations 1989, came into force on 21 February 2000 *Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 *

Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

(CHIP) (gives effect to EU

Directive 67/548/EEC The Dangerous Substances Directive (as amended) was one of the main European Union laws concerning chemical safety, until its full replacement by the new regulation CLP Regulation (2008), starting in 2016. It was made under Article 100 (Art. 94 i ...

) *Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002 *

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 is a United Kingdom Statutory Instrument which states general requirements imposed on employers to protect employees and other persons from the hazards of substances used at work by ...

*The Work at Height Regulations 2005 *

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 place a duty on employers within Great Britain to reduce the risk to their employees health by controlling the noise they are exposed to whilst at work. The regulations were established under the Healt ...

Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 are a set of regulations created under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which came into force in Great Britain on 6 July 2005. The regulations place a duty on employers to reduce the ris ...

*The

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting In management accounting or managerial accounting, managers use accounting information i ...

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 Reporting may refer to * any activity that leads to reports * in particular business reporting * Data reporting * Sustainability reporting * Financial reporting * international reporting of financial information for tax purposes under the OECD's ...

*Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1639) * The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 *Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 *Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 (S.I 2017/1322) *The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019. A full list of all UK Health and Safety legislation can be found on the HSE website.

Statutory inspection

A number of statutes require a "thorough inspection" to take place at prescribed intervals. The HSE describes a thorough inspection as "a systematic and detailed examination of the equipment and safety-critical parts, carried out at specified intervals by a competent person who must then complete a written report". The main statutory inspection regulations are:

REACH

The

registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation dating from 18 December 2006. REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human h ...

in the UK reflects the EU REACH regulation (EC 1907/2006). Having entered into force in 2007, REACH provisions were phased in over a period of 11 years.

Notes

References

* *{{cite book , title=Health and Safety Law , author=Stranks, J. , location=London , publisher=Prentise Hall , edition=5th , year=2005 , isbn=9780131976467

Regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. F ...

Safety codes Statutory Instruments of the United Kingdom