Law for Managers Assignment
Law for Managers Assignment
20528248
The use of section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is summarised as:
“An Act to make further provision for securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to health or safety in connection with the activities of persons at work” (Health & Safety at Work Act 1974)
This is only a small portion of the summary and it continues to talk about dangerous substances, control of emissions and building regulations. But from the quoted section we can begin to deduce the reason for the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (hereafter referred to as HSWA), it is there to ensure that businesses are aware of the dangers they can cause for their employees and the public around them during their day to day proceedings, and of the liabilities they face if they do not comply with the law. Acts of Parliament were passed prior to 1974 to deal with certain hazards in and out of the workplace, we can see that there were repercussions when people were ignorant to the safety of others through negligence for example, which was first defined in the case Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks [1858] where Mr Blyth’s house was flooded due to Birmingham Waterworks installing a fireplug which failed during the winter months, in this case the judge ruled that the defendant could not have expected the abnormal cold of that year and were therefore not showing signs of negligence when they installed said plug. And so while there were some basic provisions in place, the majority of the HSWA was an evolution of a report by Baron Alfred Robens known as the Robens Report, in it he realised that there was a problem with the large amount of accidents, and in many cases deaths, occurring to people whom were at work and that it was a “serious and concerning” issue to be dealt with. It was the basis of the idea of employers self-regulating the health and safety of their
20528248
The use of section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is summarised as:
“An Act to make further provision for securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to health or safety in connection with the activities of persons at work” (Health & Safety at Work Act 1974)
This is only a small portion of the summary and it continues to talk about dangerous substances, control of emissions and building regulations. But from the quoted section we can begin to deduce the reason for the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (hereafter referred to as HSWA), it is there to ensure that businesses are aware of the dangers they can cause for their employees and the public around them during their day to day proceedings, and of the liabilities they face if they do not comply with the law. Acts of Parliament were passed prior to 1974 to deal with certain hazards in and out of the workplace, we can see that there were repercussions when people were ignorant to the safety of others through negligence for example, which was first defined in the case Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks [1858] where Mr Blyth’s house was flooded due to Birmingham Waterworks installing a fireplug which failed during the winter months, in this case the judge ruled that the defendant could not have expected the abnormal cold of that year and were therefore not showing signs of negligence when they installed said plug. And so while there were some basic provisions in place, the majority of the HSWA was an evolution of a report by Baron Alfred Robens known as the Robens Report, in it he realised that there was a problem with the large amount of accidents, and in many cases deaths, occurring to people whom were at work and that it was a “serious and concerning” issue to be dealt with. It was the basis of the idea of employers self-regulating the health and safety of their
Bibliography: BARRETT, B. 2008. Liability for Safety Offences: Is the Law Still Fatally Flawed? Word Count: 2110