Who is Responsible for Health & Safety at Work?

Introduction

Who is responsible for health and safety at work? The short answer to this question is ‘everyone’. Every person in every workplace in the UK bears a measure of responsibility for their own safety, as well as the safety of others.

In short, safety procedures and laws must be adhered to. Common sense must prevail. Training must be offered and accepted. If these conditions are met, workplace accidents, such as fire, or injury, will be safely kept to a minimum.

To examine the above question in a broader context, however, can offer somewhat different answers.

For example, one answer would be the British government. The government passes laws that pertain to the safety of the British workforce. If those laws were to be substandard, impractical, or otherwise poorly considered, people could suffer.

Another (related) answer is the UK’s already active health and safety legislation. Health and safety at work is a legal matter, and British law enforces strict guidelines pertaining to employee health and safety, with serious consequences for those who transgress the boundaries of the law.

Legally speaking, of course, health and safety is largely the responsibility of the employer, with those directly supervising employees being considered most responsible. After that, any company owners, directors, or managers may also be held accountable for breaches of health and safety laws.

However, a manager can only be held partially accountable for the actions of those they manage. If, for example, an employee is fully trained in safety procedures, yet ignores them and causes an injury, blame will be placed (rightfully) on the shoulders of the employee.

For these reasons, we argue that health and safety should be considered ‘a group effort’, one in which every person, from the top of the company downwards, should share in the responsibility of keeping themselves, their customers, and their colleagues safe from harm.

In this guide, we will examine an employer’s legal obligations to their staff, and contrast these with an employee’s own responsibilities. We will examine some of the key legislation that governs health and safety in the UK, and explain the reasoning behind common procedures that are required by law in most (or all) British working environments.

If you are in any doubt as to your legal responsibilities as a security operative, you will likely find the answers you seek in this feature.

HASAWA ’74

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, or HASAWA is a landmark piece of legislation that serves as a shining example of good governance and sensible, compassionate leadership to this day.

Although British professionals are often conditioned by the media (and sometimes even their colleagues) to be scornful towards health and safety procedures (some of which, it must be said, can be ill-considered, or even illogical), the truth is that health and safety laws save lives, every single day.

Prior to HASAWA passing into law, as many as 1000 British workers a year were being killed in (mostly avoidable) workplace accidents. This means that between 2 and 3 people were dying avoidable deaths at work every day for decades. In this era, the number of workplace-related injuries regularly surpassed half a million per year.

In 1974, a massive explosion (the largest in Britain since WW2) destroyed the Nypro chemical plant in Flixborough, near Scunthorpe. 28 people were killed, with 36 more exposed to toxic gases. The incident took place during the weekend, a time when the factory was relatively short-staffed. Had the explosion occurred on a weekday, the death toll would have been catastrophic.

That year, 651 UK-based workers had died while at work, while another 336,701 had been injured. The government decided to take a stand, and subsequently passed the Health and Safety at Work act. This proved to be an important step on the road to making the United Kingdom one of the safest places to live and work in the world.

For comparison, the years 2022/23 have seen 135 workplace deaths. This number is still relatively high, but it also represents a huge reduction from the 600 – 1000 experienced by the British workforce in the 1960’s and early 70’s.

Admittedly, these figures are partly attributable to the country switching to a service-based economy (and therefore offering fewer physically demanding/dangerous occupations to its workforce) in the years following HASAWA’s passage. However, the statistics from 1974 to the present day still demonstrate just how effective H&S legislation can be when properly applied. Statistically speaking, Britain is one of the safest countries in the world to live and work in, and our H&S legislation is a huge part of that.

The terms of HASAWA unambiguously name employers as being responsible for the safety and wellbeing of their employees. This duty of care also extends to any member of the public on their premises.

However, employees are also expected to take adequate care of themselves. Employees are required to obey H&S law, as well as being compliant at all times with company-specific safety policies. This includes responsibilities such as wearing protective clothing where required, taking training exercises seriously, reporting injuries or health issues to management, and more besides.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE)

Formed in 1975, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is the national regulator for workplace health, welfare, and safety. As a regulatory body, the HSE’s primary mission is to prevent workplace injuries and deaths by promoting safer working practices and ensuring full compliance with the country’s H&S laws.

The HSE therefore has multiple responsibilities, including offering free advice and guidelines to employers, investigating potential H&S violations, and taking action where necessary.

The HSE focuses most of its efforts on industries and sectors with the highest levels of danger and/or number of workplace accidents or deaths. However, any company or organisation may seek their advice and guidance at any time.

If a company or organisation is found to be in violation of H&S regulations, there are a number of avenues open to the HSE. Following an investigation, they may simply provide information and give advice. However, they can also issue formal cautions, suspend (or amend) licenses, or, in extreme cases, prosecute employers or organisations that have broken the law.

The HSE is not by itself responsible for workplace safety, it exists to ensure that companies, organisations, and individuals comply with the law.

Taking Action 

While H&S legislation applies to all UK workplaces, some needs and concerns may vary between working environments. For this reason, it is recommended that all workplaces draw up H&S policies specific to their individual requirements. These policies should support and expand upon existing legislation, and must be properly adhered to by every employee.

Staff must be made aware of these policies (and any changes made to them) and, where necessary, employees should receive extra training to ensure that the company’s H&S policies are being enacted constantly and correctly.

It is also a legal requirement that employers display the Health & Safety poster. The poster (which can be accessed by clicking HERE) outlines British H&S laws and explains the legal requirements of both employers and employees. The poster must be displayed prominently, in a place where all employees can see it. In environments where this isn’t easy or possible, it can be handed out as a leaflet or wallet-sized card.

Keeping yourself and others safe at work is an important part of any job, but this is especially true in the field of security.

Identifying who needs protecting, as well as which hazards they need protecting from, is the first step towards creating meaningful, workable H&S policies. In the case of most security positions, the primary groups that require protection are the patrons, customers and/or public under the direct care of the operative(s) in question. This could mean shoppers (in the case of retail security), patrons (in the case of nightclub/bar security), residents (in the case of residential security), and so on.

However, this group also includes staff, management, members of the public (who aren’t necessarily customers or patrons) and, of course, the operatives themselves and their colleagues.

Hazards facing them might include violent or unruly customers/patrons, environmental hazards (such as broken floor tiles that could cause people to trip, unguarded flames, or wet floors), or even terrorist attacks.

Although not every example mentioned above is the direct responsibility of a security operative, all operatives are required to be aware of their surroundings, and to be cognisant of various potential hazards, reporting them where needed and reacting to them where appropriate.

First aid training is now a mandatory part of top-up training to help security operatives that may encounter medical emergencies in the process of discharging their professional duties.

Security operatives must take H&S especially seriously. When security standards become lax, the risks to the public, colleagues, and the operatives themselves are far greater than those of most other professions.

A tragic case study proving this point is the Manchester Arena bombing. This brutal terrorist attack was carried out on 22nd May 2017 and resulted in the deaths of 23 people (including the bomber himself). The youngest victim was just 8 years old.

Security operatives working at the venue did very little to confront the terrorist, even after he had been pointed out to them as a potential threat. Both the standards of security and the standards of policing at the venue were slapdash – and a strong argument can be (and has been) made that people died as a result.

Security operatives carry an awesome responsibility to the people around them, but this responsibility, like so many other things, is part of the job.

Above all, all UK-based employees are expected to be proactive with regard to health and safety. Taking unnecessary risks, ignoring proper procedure and/or training, and having a flippant or callous attitude to safety can cause numerous problems. Nobody wants to eat a meal prepared in a kitchen that ignores food safety standards, for example.

In 2017, 20-year-old Lauren Scott was killed after her hair became tangled in a spinning power take off (PTO) shaft at the back of a tractor on a farm in Dawlish, Devon. A plastic sleeve costing just £75 would have saved Scott’s life.

The farm’s owner, Neil Carpenter, pled guilty to 2 breaches of HASAWA, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence, and subsequently sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison. According to UK law, Mr. Carpenter had a duty to ensure the safety of those who worked for him (including volunteers such as Scott).

Responsibilities as an Employee

The HSE understands that no individual is solely responsible for workplace safety. Instead, responsibility is legally allocated between employees and employers. Logically enough, employers have a greater degree of responsibility than their employees, but employees have a duty to follow the rules, enact policy, comply with the law, and keep themselves safe at all times.

According to the HSE: “Workers have a duty to take care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by [their] actions at work.” This means that employees share their responsibilities with their employer.

Although the law demands employers take care of those in their employ, employees also share a measure of responsibility for keeping themselves and others safe. The examples cited above included attending training sessions and ensuring that everybody behaves according to policy. However, the H&S duties of an employee don’t end there.

Employees are expected to follow H&S training, help implement H&S policies and procedures, stay up-to-date with any changes to company H&S policies, report safety violations or potential problems (particularly with equipment), and work with their employers to ensure a safe working environment.

If employers or management have been informed of any problems and are not working to resolve them, employees then have a duty to inform the HSE, which can step in whenever they deem it necessary to do so.

Employees are also expected to manage their own health and wellbeing, taking sick days when necessary and keeping management apprised of any serious health concerns (this includes mental health issues).

In some cases, senior staff will be expected to take on greater responsibilities than their junior counterparts, but safety in a British workplace is still considered to be everybody’s concern.

Responsibilities as an Employer

HASAWA (as well as other H&S legislation) unambiguously states that employers have a legal duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their employees. The terms of the law are very clear on this particular issue.

In addition to providing a safe, inclusive working environment (compliant with all legal standards for potential hazards such as fire safety), employers are also required to take their employees’ safety concerns seriously, and investigate them where necessary.

Employers must ensure that all employees are properly trained in the working practices that apply to their job. Employers must also provide risk assessments outlining any potential hazards or dangers that their employees may face. These risk assessments should be professionally conducted and must contain strategies for mitigating (or, where possible, eliminating) said risks.

Employers should also supply a written H&S policy that is clearly displayed and accessible to all. This should be included with input from the employees themselves. Employers are also required by law to educate their employees on any potential hazards or dangers that they may encounter.

Employers must also ensure that all equipment has been properly inspected, meets with modern legal standards, is in full working order, is stored and transported safely, and is only ever operated by trained personnel.

In the example offered earlier, Lauren Scott tragically died as a result of using machinery that was unsafe. Her employer had a legal duty to ensure that his equipment was compliant with modern safety standards. It wasn’t, and a young woman lost her life as a result. Said employer was then jailed for his dismissive attitude to employee safety. The consequences for ignoring H&S laws are severe, and with good reason.

In 2011 (not 2014, as our previous H&S feature erroneously stated), security operative Arthur Ebirim, from Peckham, died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning after the company he worked for failed to perform a proper risk assessment for a petrol generator he was using to keep warm during a night watch. The company was heavily fined and has since gone into liquidation.

Why is the Employer Considered Most Responsible?

Under UK law, employers shoulder more responsibility for health and safety than those in their employ. There are multiple reasons for this.

Firstly, employees attend work at the behest of their employer. It is therefore incumbent upon the employer to ensure that the working environment provided is a safe one.

Secondly, employees do not, in most cases, own either the business they work for or the premises they work at. This means that they are not in a position to dictate policy or alter their working environment in any significant way, only the employers can do that.

Thirdly, responsibility for a company’s business practices logically belongs to the people who operate said company and decide upon its direction, policies, and working practices.

Employees, though obviously responsible for the safety of themselves and their colleagues to some extent, could never be considered as responsible for health and safety as their employers are.

All employees are expected to meet the standards of their employer(s). If the employer’s standards are lax, this can have a cumulatively negative impact on the entire organisation.  When it comes to health and safety, the consequences of such low standards can be truly dire for all concerned.

Suppose, for example, a new piece of equipment was invented that completely eliminated the risks of operating a particular piece of machinery. A company that uses said machinery would have to decide whether to purchase and use this new safety equipment. If they opted not to use it, and an employee was injured through no fault of their own, responsibility for the accident would ultimately fall upon those who made the decision to accept the risks as they were, and not help to keep their employees safe.

Employers are leaders. They decide the directions and working practices of their business and, therefore, their employees. They also shoulder the blame for bad decisions and financial losses. Likewise, the majority of H&S violations that occur in a company are the responsibility of company leadership.

US President Harry S. Truman famously kept a sign on his desk that read ‘The buck stops here’, meaning that ‘passing the buck’ would only work for so long until it reached the figure with the most authority (and, therefore, the highest level of responsibility). This philosophy should apply (albeit microcosmically) to any leader, manager, CEO, or company owner, on almost any issue.

How Can ISO 45001 Help? 

ISO 45001 is a special certification designed to mitigate or minimise workplace accidents.  When awarded, it demonstrates a strong commitment to employee safety, as well as a general reinforcement of existing H&S practices, policies, and compliance with the law.

A company or business with ISO 45001 certification will be more likely to be awarded prestigious and/or lucrative contracts, such as government work, or work undertaken for larger, more prominent businesses. It also brings down a company’s insurance premiums.

ISO 45001 certification involves and includes employees, streamlines the necessary work of ensuring compliance with H&S laws, and, most importantly, helps to keep everyone safe.

H&S laws are easier to follow when the company following them has been fully checked, has put in place policies and procedures recommended by experts, and has access to digital resources designed to make the process of managing H&S easier and more efficient by far.

When applied for, all aspects of the business will be assessed by an auditor. Where required, new policies will be recommended and training offered. Once the auditor’s recommendations are met, the company will be formally awarded ISO 45001 status.

The benefits of ISO 45001 are numerous, both in terms of business growth and employee safety. The extra attention to detail, as well as the educated eyes of an H&S expert can really help even the most stringent companies move upwards to the next level of employee safety.

The greatest responsibility faced by any employer is to the people in their employ. In a very real sense, a company could not exist without its workforce. It is vital, then, that these essential people are kept safe and cared for while they work.

Human life is precious. Minimising the numbers of preventable injuries, accidents, and deaths is an ongoing responsibility that any good British employer must take very seriously indeed.