The Legal Case For Managing Health and Safety

The law requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees, as far as is reasonably practicable.    The legal term ‘as far as is reasonably practicable’ means the balance of an organisation’s occupational risks -v- the cost, time and effort required to reduce the ‘reasonably foreseeable’ risks.

There are three tests in law regarding ‘reasonable foreseeable’ risks: –

  1. ‘Common knowledge’ e.g. known by most ‘reasonable persons’
  2. ‘Industry knowledge’ e.g. technical or industry-specific standards
  3. ‘Expert knowledge’ e.g. experts in their field, such as scientists or specialists

The principle of ‘as far as is reasonably practicable’ was set in law back in the 1940’s when a Court found that the death of several coal miners was caused by the collapse of un-shored mine walls.  Other areas of the mine were shored-up, but not in the one-mile stretch where these men were working. The Judge stated that it was ‘reasonably practicable’ to expect the then National Coal Board to spend what was a relatively small sum of money; some time and effort shoring-up the mine walls, because had they done so, it would have prevented the foreseeable consequences of a mine collapse.  The Judge also stated this was both ‘common knowledge’ and ‘industry knowledge’.

Society expects employers to act reasonably and therefore, no-one should be killed, injured or suffer ill-health just because of their work and rightly, the consequences of non-compliance are high for all concerned, particularly the ‘duty-holders’ (e.g. the most senior people in the organisation).

Yet, in 2016/17, 137 workers were killed at work in the UK and 434,000 people were off work for up to 7-days following a work-related accident or a diagnosed occupational ill-health condition, with a further 175,000 off work for more than 7-days.  The HSE states that approximately 70% of workplace fatalities, injuries and ill-health are caused by poor H&S management and were both foreseeable and preventable.

Under statutory law, ‘Duty holders’ can delegate responsibilities but cannot delegate their accountability.  Non-compliance results in imprisonment and/or fines and remedial orders (e.g. Community Service, Improvement or Prohibition Notices).

A Fee for Intervention is now charged to organisations who are subject to HSE investigation and prosecution, to cover their time investigating and preparing the case for Court.

In Civil law, claimants have the right to claim damages for their injuries if they can prove the organisation (or person) owed them a ‘duty of care’, the duty was breached, and the injury was caused because of the breach.

Legal compliance is the minimum an organisation must achieve but good H&S management is good for business and it isn’t about ‘common sense’ but a ‘common understanding of risks and how to manage them’.

Proactive H&S management will result in the organisation’s good reputation remaining intact, resources not being wasted on uninsured costs when things go wrong (see Financial reasons for managing health and safety) and will ensure staff are happy, healthy and at work! (see Moral reasons for managing health and safety)