Health & Safety At Work etc. Act 1974
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 was the most important piece of legislation relating to the general structure of the administration and control of safety at work. Its main implications were:
- to place duties and obligations on the employee as well as the employer,
- to establish the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), the policy making body for health and safety,
- to establish the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the enforcing body ensuring that policies are carried out in the workplace,
- to give accident prevention powers to the HSE inspectors through Improvement and Prohibition Notices.
The object of the Act was to bring all previous legislation into a single unified system of Regulations and Approved Codes of Practice (ACoPs) approved by the HSC and the Secretary of State before issue. An ACoP is an authoritative statement of how to achieve compliance with the legislation standard. Contravention of an ACoP is not necessarily an offence, but a defendant would need to demonstrate that any action taken was at least equivalent to, or better than, that required by the ACoP.
Other associated documentation
L1 Guide to the Health and Safety at Work Act 5th Edition (1992)
