New regulations to watch out for
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How safe is your operation? During a recession it is tempting to try and answer this question by refering to your order book, but it also applies to health and safety.
For many years hauliers, like other employers, have paid little regard to health and safety in between increasingly rare visits by inspectors. But now there is a new mood within the Health & Safety Executive: new Regulations governing every workplace came into force on 1 January 1993 which are set to lead to a greater degree of activity by their inspectors. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (the Management Regulations) are the latest step in a series designed to force employers to sit down and think about the safety of themselves, their workers and visitors.
These regs demand: • That you assess the risks to workers and anyone else who may be affected by your business activity; • That, if you employ five or more people, the Findings are recorded; • That you appoint a competent person to help implement your health-and-safety arrangements; • That you provide relevant information about the risks identified to your employees. The transport industry needs to be alert to the need for proper structures in this area. Apart from the obvious benefits of higher standards and productivity, remember that prosecutions and fines are increasing— and 25% of all fatal accidents at work involve transport.
It might be tempting to dismiss the Management Regulations as just one more demand on your time, and to rely instead on common sense. But if there is an accident at your workplace and you do not have your written risk assessment it could be taken as proof that you have Failed to comply with your statutory duty to provide a so e system of work as demanded by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA).
And if you are prosecuted under HSWA provisions you can expect to be dealt with rather more severely by the courts than in the past—the director of a limited company was recently disqualified from holding a directorship for two years and fined 25,000 Following a health-and-safety prosecution.