Health is wealth
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Never has the old addage proved more true than in the case of industrial accidents which account for around 15m lost working days a year. Brian Chalmers-Hunt runs through the Health and Safety at Work Act.
THE HEALTH and Safety at Work Act is not just another piece of legislation to be added to a long list of existing Acts and controls to be followed in road transport. It's a logical extension to the large number of health and safety laws which have built up during the past 150 years.
Although the main burden of responsibility falls on the employer, both employees and general public all have rights under the Act.
Transport operators must remember that the Road Traffic Acts are not part of the Health and Safety at Work Act and that the police, as enforcement officers, are not part of the Health and Safety Executive.
The Executive appoints inspectors to enforce decisions of the Health and Safety Commission which comprises a maximum of ten people, representing all sectors of industry.
Some enforcement of the Act is delegated to agents, the principal ones being the local authorities who have historically been responsible for the enforcement of controls such as the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act and the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act.
The police now also act on behalf of the Health and Safety Commission and they enforce the Hazchem Regulations while the vehicle is on the road.
The Act applies to all employers irrespective of the size pf the business and numbers of workers, it also covers all employees at work from managng director to apprentice. Those who are self-employed n the transport industry are also subject to the Health and Safety controls.
The Act, unlike previous egal controls which dealt with 3pecific problems, contains no 3pecific requirements.
But it does establish prin3iples which employers and amployees must conform to.
The Act's prime aim is to en3ure that the nation's workforce enjoy healthy and 3afe conditions of work and hey are provided with ade quate welfare facilities. This responsibility falls heavily on the transport operator.
Another aim is to ensure that others not directly involved with work being done, such as visitors, are not placed at risk. One control directly concerning the road transport industry is the Petroleum Licence which is designed to protect the public either using or in the vicinity of a service station where inflammable petroleum based products are stored or used.
Some of the regulations which were already in existence have now been brought under the aegis of the Health and Safety Act and include the Highly Flammable Liquids and Liquefied Petroelum Gases Regulations.
The Petroleum (Consolidation) Act requires a licence before petrol may be stored, and the Explosives Act which requires licences to store and use explosives, is relevant to a quarry owner operating his own fleet of vehicles.
The Health and Safety Act has taken over a myriad of legislation previously covered by other acts and its aim is to impose more comprehensive controls. This will take some time. For instance, the Factories Act dealing with the reporting of accidents, use of lifting equipment (workshop cranes, hoists and lorry mounted cranes), design and inspection of pressurised systems (compressed airlines in workshops) are already scheduled for repeal and replacement by new regulations.
The employer's duty to his employees in the Act is described thus: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees" —regardless of their status.
The Act does identify some specific items which transport management must pay particular attention to.
The workplace is defined as a permanent structure which includes the walls, roof, floor, stairs and open areas, such as vehicle and trailer parks. The employer must maintain any place of work under his control in a safe condition, and he must provide and maintain easily recognisable and safe exits and entrances.
The vehicle itself becomes a place of work when it is at base, at the customer's premises, or at the roadside being prepared, unloaded or loaded.
Loading banks, platforms, loading gantrys, access steps and catwalks must also be safe.
Most premises must by law have a Fire Certificate, which is issued by the local fire authority to ensure that, if a fire breaks out, there are adequate means of escape.
The only exceptions are premises where the staff establishment does not exceed 20 (ground floor) or ten (first floor and above).
An employer must maintain in a safe condition all plant and equipment used in the operation of his transport or warehousing business, including portable power tools, jacks and axle stands, tanker discharging 'equipment, materials handling equipment, right through to office equipment.
Specific controls are contained in the Factories Act which requires six-monthly inspections of ropes and chains, and inspections of cranes and machinery guards every 14 months.
Transport operators must also ensure that the methods and procedures carried out in workshops are safe — this means jacked-up vehicles adequately supported on stands and not oil drums, or raised tipper bodies securely chocked with wood or metal props.
Again the Factories Act is not specific for transport operators workshops but Section 30, which deals with work in enclosed spaces, would also be applicable to anyone who has to work inside a road tank or box body.
Every employer must ensure the safety of and absence of health risks in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of goods.
When degreasers are used in the workshop or yard, suitable protective clothing such as waterproof clothes and gloves must be available. Additionally, when hand-operated power tools are used there must be adequate eye protec tion as specified in the Protection of Eyes Regulations, 1974.
Where special chemicals are used or handled in the workshops or yards either at base or customer premises and in the loading and discharging of tankers, safe handling will require the provision of suitable protective clothing.
If forklift trucks, cranes or other mechanical handling • equipment is used to move freight or components safe, handling will involve suitable training and use of the equipment.
The term "storage", as far as the Act goes, includes the parts store, warehouse, flammable store, office store, the condition of sacks, bins and pallets, floor loadings and control of inflammable substances not actually in use.
Transport of articles mentioned in the Act can be interpreted to include gas, compressed air, liquids through pipes, electricity along cables, as well as materials and goods conveyor systems.
The Health and Safety Act draws a distinction between the place of work and working environment. The working environment should be interpreted as the nature of the working atmosphere, and what the employer has done to ensure conditions are reasonable.
This includes the amount of space allocated to each person, heating, lighting, ventilation, control of noise, removal of any dust, fumes or smells, removal of litter and waste, right through to the painting of ceil ings, walls and floor coverings.
The Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act and the Factories Act also give extensive guidance on what constitutes a healthy working environment.
Employers must provide "welfare" facilities including the adequate provision of washing and first-aid facilities, the provision of drinking water, rest rooms, segregated toilets and so on. Again the Factories Act and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act give guidance.
For the first time, The Health and Safety Act imposes a blanket requirement to provide adequate instruction and training to all employees in matters affecting their health and safety at work.
This includes training in vehicle recovery, forklift truck and crane operation, or use of any workshop or ;office equipment.
Transport operators must consider training to be a continuous process and ensure that it is given to all new employees and existing employees who are transferred from one job to another.
The Act also requires the provision of information on a variety of subjects ranging from abstracts of regulations, to the mandatory display of warning notices, to training details.
Employers must be adequately warned about any health hazards or risks involved in
their employment, and it is also management's responsibility to find out if there are any hazards or risks attached to new equipment or cargo being used or handled.
In the workshops, if the pr.son in charge is absent for any reason, he must be replaced by
a competent substitute or be available for consultation if the need arises.
Any employer with five or more employees Must prepare a written statement of his policy on health and safety at work. It must state what orga nisational arrangements and procedures are in existence for carrying out that policy.
Trades unions recognised by the employer have the right to appoint safety representatives, and the employer must meet them with a view to co-operation in health and safety matters.
Those employers who do not recognise trades unions can still invite employees to elect safety representatives.
When two or more appointed safety representatives ask an employer to set up a safety committee, the employer must comply with this request and establish the committee within three months, and each member of the committee should have specialist knowledge in an area likely to be of value to the committee. And a legal expert, such as a company secretary, would be useful.
Under the Factories Act all employees had a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of themselves and others, and this obligation still applies under the Health and /Safety Act.
For example, electric arc welders should wear a face mask, gloves and apron to protect themselves and also work behind a screen to protect fellow workers.
Under the Health and Safety Act all employees also have a duty to co-operate with their employers and any other person to whom-statutory duties under the Act apply. Medical fitness, driving qualifications, accident reporting procedures, protective or safety equipment, testing and training to ensure Competence, drivers' hours, survey of contract sites, reporting of hazards and defective equipment and so on must all be considered under the. Act and the safety representative. or committee determine policy. When an employer sets out in his safety procedure a set way to do a job the employer must follow the rules.
Co-operating with other people who have statutory duties under the Act can also mean a goods-vehicle driver complying with a customer's arrangements for collection and delivery from his premises.
Any safety policy must be capable of being enforced where appropriate, by in-company disciplinary procedures so that the employee can ap• preciate the penalties of nni carrying out this policy. If elementary procedures are ignored, the penalty could be a written warning or a prosecution; and malpractices endangering life or health could result in dismissal.
For the employer, prosecution is the traditional method of enforcement and is usually applied where a specific control has not been complied with. This is by either summary conviction in a Magistrate's Court or by indictment in the Crown Court.
Penalties are high: a Magistrate's Court can impose a fine of up to £1000 for many offences under the Act, and the Crown Court can impose, after conviction, up to two years' imprisonment or an unlimited fine.
Failure by an employer to comply with an improvement or prohibition notice can be punished with a fine up to £400 or for a serious breach, up to £1000 a day for each day the notice is not complied with after conviction.