Health and Safety At Work - Responsibilities

Generally speaking, by law, your employer owes you what is called a duty of care to ensure that you are working in a safe environment. The European Community Six Pack set of regulations that was turned into law in the United Kingdom in 1993 provides your employer with a set of rules that regulate various aspects of safety at work. Briefly, they state that:

Your employer must continuously assess the risks you might be subjected to at work and take preventive action.

As a matter of course, your employer must run regular assessments of risks where you work and take action to minimise them.

Provide you with relevant and thorough training in the use of equipment that is considered to present a potential risk.

A large number of accidents at work are the result of employees not receiving adequate training from their employers on the use of tools, facilities or, more generally, on how to fulfill their duties.

Your employer must ensure that your place of work is safe by providing where necessary adequate ventilation, temperature, lighting, space and accessibility.

This is particularly important in safeguarding against longer term work-related illnesses. Bad ventilation where chemiclas are involved could lead to serious respiratory problems, a cluttered working environment could lead an employee to trip or could hinder exiting a building if there was a fire.

Your employer must provide you, where necessary, with suitable personal protective equipment and proper training in its use.

If you are working with hazardous products or handle tools that generate sparks for example, your employer would be responsible to provide you with gloves or safety goggles and ensure that these are in good working order (not worn or cracked).

Your employer must ensure that any equipment (e.g. forklift, power presses, machinery, etc.) is maintained and tested regularly and that you are properly trained in its use.

There are still too many accidents involving plant machinery, despite the government's every effort in driving home the message that machinery should only be operated by thoroughly trained employees.

Your employer is responsible to provide you with adequate lifting equipment and training.

Do you know what constitutes a two-man lift? Have you ever been told? The large incidence of back or neck injuries as a result of lifting accidents in the UK is staggering despite clear regulation as to an employer's responsibility in the matter.

Your employer is responsible to provide you with suitable training in manually handling goods and materials.

If you are thinking of pursuing a claim for compensation, your solicitor will evaluate whether your employer has failed in providing you with any of the conditions that are outlined above. In the context of your employment, government regulation states that you, as an employee, are responsible for:

Using any equipment or undertaking any activity in accordance with any training or instructions that you might have been given.

If you are claiming compensation for an accident where, for example, you failed to use equipment that was available and injured yourself as a result, you might be considered to be partially at fault and therefore the amount of compensation you are entitled to might be reduced.

Informing your employer of any danger or fault in health and safety arrangements or any tools or equipment that you are using.