What are my duties as an employer?

The Health and Safety at Work Act sets down general duties for employers and these Regulations simply expand on those duties as they relate to workplaces and apply to those people who have responsibility for the workplace, including landlords.

Maintenance of workplaces, equipment, devices and systems

All workplaces, including equipment, devices and systems should be maintained in good working order and in good repair. In practice, this means that a system of maintenance should be introduced to ensure:

• Regular maintenance takes place i.e. inspection, adjustment, lubrication and cleaning.
• Potentially hazardous defects are remedied.
• Accurate maintenance records are maintained.

Ventilation

• All enclosed workplaces should be ventilated so that stale air and or air which has become hot or humid due to a process or piece of equipment in the workplace is replaced.
• In many cases windows and other openings will provide sufficient ventilation in some or all parts of the workplace; in others mechanical ventilation should be used.
• The fresh air supply rate should not normally fall below 5 to 8 litres per second per occupant. Further guidance is available from publications issued by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.
• There are also more specific pieces of legislation governing local exhaust ventilation for controlling exposures to substances hazardous to health, e.g. COSHH.

Temperature

• The minimum temperature in a workplace is 16°C. This is reduced to 13°C where much of the work involves severe physical effort. The minimum does not apply to rooms if it is impractical  to maintain this temperature, such as rooms open to the outside and cold stores for food.
• There is not a maximum temperature for a workplace, though the temperature must ‘be reasonable’. Therefore, additional ventilation or cooling may be required during hot periods or conditions.
• An adequate number of thermometers should be available in the workplace.

Lighting

• Lighting should be sufficient to enable people to work, use the facilities and move from location to location without experiencing eye strain. In particular, stairs should be well lit and where necessary, local lighting should be provided at individual workstations.
• Lighting in a workplace should be natural lighting wherever possible.
• Emergency lighting should be provided in areas where a sudden loss of light would present a serious risk. The emergency light should be powered by an independent source e.g. generator or battery backup.

Cleanliness

orkplaces must be kept clean and the standard of cleanliness will depend on the use to which the workplace is put, e.g. an area where food is consumed would be cleaner than on the factory floor.
 However, notwithstanding its use, the workplace must be kept clean to avoid slipping, tripping and falling hazards.

Room sizes

Work areas should have enough free space to allow people to move around with ease. This means that by dividing the volume of the room (when empty) by the number of people normally working in it, should give a minimum of 11 cubic metres per person. There are however, some exceptions to this guidance standard.

Workstations and seating

Workstations should be arranged so that each task can be carried out safely and in comfort. The worker should be at a suitable height with regards to the work surface, and equipment/materials should be within convenient reach i.e. without undue stretching, leaning or bending.

Condition of floors and circulation routes

The requirement to provide and maintain floors in a suitable condition is an absolute duty. In practice this means floors and circulation routes should be:

• Of sound construction.
• Free from any hole or uneven surface which could cause persons to trip or fall.
• Without steep slopes.
• Covered in a slip resistant coating if likely to become slippery when wet.
• Free from obstructions.
• Highlighted in areas where there are changes of level.

Falls or falling objects

• Stiles of the ladder should extend 1100 mm above any landing.
• Ladders should have suitable resting points every 6 meters.
• Ladders which are more than 2.5 metres high should be fitted with safety hoops.

For roof areas requiring regular access, a permanent means of access should be provided and fixed physical safeguards should be provided to avoid falls from roof edges or through fragile materials e.g. skylights.

Every vessel containing a dangerous substance should be adequately protected to prevent persons falling in e.g. silos, sumps and vats.

Materials should be safely stored on racking which is of adequate strength and stability.  Furthermore, appropriate precautions should be taken, e.g.

• Correct use of pallets.
• Wrapping the material on the pallet.
• Setting maximum limits for stacking heights.
• Regular inspection of materials stored on racks.

Windows, and transparent or translucent doors, gates and walls

• Where necessary for reasons of health or safety, glazing must be of safety material or suitably protected against breakage.
• Particular attention should be paid to glass Below shoulder height in doors and side panels and Below waist height in windows.

Safety glazing includes:

• Materials which are inherently robust, such as polycarbonates, wired glass or glass blocks.
• Glass which breaks safely e.g. glass that complies with British Standard BS 6206 -toughened or laminated, or to which a safety film has been bonded.
• Ordinary annealed glass which meets certain thickness to area criteria:
• 8mm in thickness (panes no larger than 1.1m x 1.1m), 10mm (panes no larger than 2.25m x 2.25m), 12mm (panes no larger than 3m x 4.5m) or above 15mm

As an alternative to the use of safety materials, surfaces may be protected against breakage, e.g. by means of a barrier to prevent a person coming into contact with the glass if he/she were to fall against it.

Vulnerable glazing should also be marked to make it apparent, such as applying signs, rails, etc.

Windows and skylights, Windows should be capable of being operated in a safe manner.

Open windows and skylights should not project into an area where persons are likely to collide with them.

Cleaning windows safely

For windows which cannot be cleaned from the ground or from another suitable surface, suitable provision should be made, including:

• Fitting windows which can be cleaned from the inside.
• Fitting access equipment e.g. cradles and travelling ladders.
• Providing suitable conditions for using mobile access equipment, e.g. fixing points for ladders and anchorage points.

Organisation of traffic routes

WCs and washing facilities

Drinking water

• Adequate quantities of drinking water should be provided in workplaces, together with a sufficient number of cups.
• Accommodation for clothing
• Suitable accommodation should be provided to store clothing not worn during working hours.

Facilities for changing clothes

• A changing room should be provided for workers who change into special work clothing. The facilities should be of sufficient size and be readily accessible.
• Facilities for rest and to eat meals
• For workers who have to stand to carryout their work, suitable seats should be provided for use during breaks, facilities should also be provided to permit workers to eat meals at work.

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