Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the main health and safety law in Great Britain. This guide covers what it requires and how its duties apply to lifting and machine moving.

Overview

What the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 covers

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the main law on health and safety at work in Great Britain. It sets the general duties that sit above the more detailed health and safety Regulations made under it.

In short

Breaking it is a criminal offence. Fines can be unlimited, and directors and managers can be prosecuted personally.
Employers must protect their employees, and anyone else their work affects, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Employees must take reasonable care of themselves and others, and co-operate with their employer on safety.
The detailed rules for lifting come from Regulations made under the Act, chiefly LOLER and PUWER.

Full title	Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
Reference	1974 c. 37
Current version	The Act as amended. The revised text is on legislation.gov.uk, though some amendments may not yet be shown there.
Publisher	The National Archives, on legislation.gov.uk
Status	In force
Legal status	Act of Parliament. Failing to meet its duties is a criminal offence.
Extent	Great Britain
Northern Ireland	Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978

Duty holders

Who has duties under the Act

Employers, with duties to their own employees under section 2 and to anyone else affected by the way they run their business under section 3.
Self-employed people carrying out a prescribed activity, such as construction work. HSE lists the high-risk activities for the self-employed.
Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of articles for use at work, such as machinery and lifting gear, under section 6.
Anyone who, in running a business or other undertaking, has any control of non-domestic premises used by people other than their employees, under section 4.
Employees, under section 7.

Two crew members in hard hats and high-visibility clothing on steel access platforms and stairs inside a processing building — Crew on the access platforms inside a waste processing building, preparing a conveyor for a crane lift.

Duties

What the Act requires

Section 2 is the core duty. An employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its employees at work, and their welfare. That includes:

plant and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health
safe arrangements for using, handling, storing and transporting articles and substances
the information, instruction, training and supervision people need to work safely
a safe place of work under the employer’s control, with safe ways in and out
a safe working environment with adequate welfare facilities

If you employ five or more people, you must also write down your health and safety policy and the arrangements for carrying it out, and bring it to every employee’s attention. HSE explains how to write a health and safety policy.

Under section 3, you must run your business so that people who do not work for you, such as other contractors and members of the public, are not exposed to risks to their health or safety, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Under section 4, if in running a business or other undertaking you have any control of non-domestic premises (anywhere that is not a private home), including the ways in and out and any plant or substances there, you must take the measures reasonable for someone in your position to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that they are safe and without risks to health. The duty is owed to people who are not your employees but work there or use plant or substances provided for their use. A contract or tenancy that makes you responsible for maintenance or repair, or for the safety of plant or substances, puts those matters under your control.

Section 7 requires employees to take reasonable care of themselves and of anyone affected by what they do or fail to do at work. They must also co-operate with their employer, and anyone else with a duty under the Act, so those duties can be met.

Lifting

How the Act applies to lifting and machine moving

The detailed rules for a lifting job are in Regulations made under section 15, chiefly LOLER for lifting operations and lifting equipment, PUWER for work equipment of every kind, CDM 2015 where the lift is part of a construction project and the Work at Height Regulations where someone could fall. Risk assessment comes from the Management Regulations; COSHH and the Manual Handling Regulations each require their own.

The Act’s general duties still apply on top of them:

An employer planning a lift and choosing the equipment is meeting its section 2 duty to provide safe plant and a safe system of work.
Slingers, signallers, crane operators and lift supervisors need the information, instruction, training and supervision that section 2 requires.
Section 3 covers other trades on site and members of the public near the lift.
On a client’s site, more than one person or business can hold a section 4 duty for the premises and their access, and for any plant provided, each to the extent of its control. Sections 2 and 3 still apply too.
A company that hires out cranes or lifting accessories has supplier duties under section 6.

Machine moving works the same way: the firm skating or jacking a press into a building needs a safe system of work.

An air handling unit on skates in a rooftop plantroom under steel roof trusses, with crew working alongside it — An air handling unit being moved into position in a rooftop plantroom.

Definitions

Key definitions

Reasonably practicable is not defined in the Act. HSE explains it as balancing the level of risk against the cost and effort of controlling it. If you are prosecuted, section 40 makes you prove that it was not reasonably practicable to do more than you did.
Plant, in the Act’s words, “includes any machinery, equipment or appliance” (section 53). A crane is plant, and so is a set of machine skates.
Article for use at work means plant designed for use at work, or a component designed for such plant.
Supply means sale, lease, hire or hire-purchase, which brings hire companies within section 6.

Enforcement

Enforcement and penalties

In Great Britain the Act is enforced mainly by HSE and local authorities, according to the main activity at the premises, under the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998.

If an inspector believes the law is being broken, or has been broken and is likely to be again, they can serve an improvement notice giving a deadline to put it right, under section 21. If they believe an activity involves a risk of serious personal injury, they can serve a prohibition notice stopping it, even where no law has been broken. It takes effect immediately if the notice says so (section 22).

Failing to meet a duty under sections 2 to 7, or breaking Regulations made under the Act, is an offence under section 33. In the Crown Court, or on indictment in Scotland, the fine is unlimited, and an individual can also be sent to prison for up to two years (Schedule 3A). If a company’s offence happened with the consent or connivance of a director or other officer, or through their neglect, that person can be prosecuted personally under section 37.

In Scotland, inspectors report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which decides whether to prosecute (see HSE in Scotland).

The Act does not extend to Northern Ireland (section 84). There the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 sets equivalent duties, enforced by HSENI and district councils under HSENI’s enforcement guidelines.

Guidance

Codes of practice, guidance and sources

Section 16 lets HSE, with the Secretary of State’s consent, approve codes of practice on the Act’s duties and on Regulations made under it. Under section 17, in criminal proceedings, if you did not follow the relevant part of an approved code, you must show you met the law in some other way. For lifting, the codes that matter are L113, Safe use of lifting equipment, for LOLER and L22, Safe use of work equipment, for PUWER.

Sources and further reading

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 on legislation.gov.uk
HSE’s page on the Act
Legal status of HSE guidance and ACOPs
Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 on legislation.gov.uk

Questions

Common questions

What does “so far as is reasonably practicable” mean?

It means taking the measures needed to control a risk unless their cost and effort would be grossly out of proportion to the risk. If prosecuted, it is for the accused to prove that it was not reasonably practicable to do more than was done.