General duties of employers to their employees under the health and safety at work act;.
2. (1) 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.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of an employer's duty under the preceding subsection, the
matters to which that duty extends include in particular
(A) the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is
reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;
(B) arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks
to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances;
(C) the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of his employees;
(D) so far as is reasonably practicable as regards any place of work under the employer's
control, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the
provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without
such risks;
(E) the provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is, so far
as is reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and
arrangements for their welfare at work.
(3) Except in such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer to prepare and
as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the
health and safety at work of his employees and the organisation and arrangements for the time being
in force for carrying out that policy, and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the notice of
all of his employees.
(4) Regulations made by the Secretary of State may provide for the appointment in prescribed cases
by recognised trade unions (within the meaning of the regulations) of safety representatives from
amongst the employees, and those representatives shall represent the employees in consultations
with the employers under subsection (6) below and shall have such other functions as may be
prescribed.
(5) Regulations made by the Secretary of State may provide for the election in prescribed cases by
employees of safety representatives from amongst the employees, and those representatives shall
represent the employees in consultations with the employers under subsection (6) below and may
have such other functions as may be prescribed.
(6) It shall be the duty of every employer to consult any such representatives with a view to the
making and maintenance of arrangements which will enable him and his employees to cooperate
effectively in promoting and developing measures to ensure the health and safety at work of the
employees, and in checking the effectiveness of such measures.
(7) In such cases as may be prescribed it shall be the duty of every employer, if requested to do so by
the safety representatives mentioned in subsections (4) and (5) above, to establish, in accordance
with regulations made by the Secretary of State, a safety committee having the function of keeping
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under review the measures taken to ensure the health and safety at work of his employees and such
other functions as may be prescribed.
General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their
employees.
3. (1) It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so
far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are
not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
(2) It shall be the duty of every self-employed person to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that he and other persons (not being his employees) who
may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
(3) In such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer and every selfemployed
person, in the prescribed circumstances and in the prescribed manner, to give to persons
(not being his employees) who may be affected by the way in which he conducts his undertaking the
prescribed information about such aspects of the way in which he conducts his undertaking as might
affect their health or safety.
General duties of persons concerned with premises to persons other than their
employees.
4. (1) This section has effect for imposing on persons duties in relation to those who:
(A) are not their employees; but
(B) use non-domestic premises made available to them as a place of work or as a place where
they may use plant or substances provided for their use there, and applies to premises so made
available and other non-domestic premises used in connection with them.
(2)The health and safety at work act shall be the duty of each person who has, to any extent, control of premises to which this
section applies or of the means of access thereto or egress therefrom or of any plant or substance in
such premises to take such measures as it is reasonable for a person in his position to take to ensure,
so far as is reasonably practicable, that the premises, all means of access thereto or egress therefrom
available for use by persons using the premises, and any plant or substance in the premises or, as the
case may be, provided for use there, is or are safe and without risks to health.
(3) Where a person has, by virtue of any contract or tenancy, an obligation of any extent in relation
to
(A) the maintenance or repair of any premises to which this section applies or any means of
access thereto or egress therefrom; or
(B) the safety of or the absence of risks to health arising from plant or substances in any such
premises; that person shall be treated, for the purposes of subsection (2) above, as being a
person who has control of the matters to which his obligation extends.
(4) Any reference in this section to a person having control of any premises or matter is a reference
to a person having control of the premises or matter in connection with the carrying on by him of a
trade, business or other undertaking (whether for profit or not).
General duty of persons in control of certain premises in relation to harmful
emissions into atmosphere.
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5. (1) It shall be the duty of the person having control of any premises of a class prescribed for the
purposes of section 1(1)(D) to us the best practicable means for preventing the emission into the
atmosphere from the premises of noxious or offensive substances and for rendering harmless and
inoffensive such substances as may be so emitted.
(2) The reference in subsection (1) above to the means to be used for the purposes there mentioned
includes a reference to the manner in which the plant provided for those purposes is used and to the
supervision of any operation involving the emission of the substances to which that subsection
applies.
(3) Any substance or a substance of any description prescribed for the purposes of subsection (1)
above as noxious or offensive shall be a noxious or, as the case may be, an offensive substance for
those purposes whether or not it would be so apart from this subsection.
(4) Any reference in this section to a person having control of any premises is a reference to a person
having control of the premises in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade, business or other
undertaking (whether for profit or not) and any duty imposed on any such person by this section
shall extend only to matters within his control.