Understanding responsibilities
Who must do what
In Great Britain, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 sets out broad duties. The employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide safe plant and systems of work, safe arrangements for handling, storage and transport, training, instruction and supervision, a safe workplace with safe access and egress, and a safe working environment with adequate welfare facilities. Employers must also consult workers, prepare a written health and safety policy where five or more people are employed, and hold employers' liability insurance (the statutory minimum is £5 million).
Employees must take reasonable care of themselves and others affected by their acts and omissions, cooperate with the employer on health and safety, and must not intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided for safety. Employees can themselves be prosecuted; duties are not one-sided.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 add specific duties: suitable and sufficient risk assessments, appointing competent persons, planning for emergencies, and cooperating with other employers who share a workplace. Enforcement rests with the Health and Safety Executive or the local authority, who can issue improvement notices, prohibition notices and prosecute.
Traps: attributing employer duties such as 'provide training' to employees; wrong thresholds (the written policy threshold is five employees, not ten or fifty); the wrong insurance figure; assuming employees are immune from prosecution; ignoring duties owed to non-employees such as visitors, contractors and the public.
Rule of thumb: if the duty says 'provide', 'ensure' or 'assess', it belongs to the employer; if it says 'take care' or 'cooperate', it belongs to the employee.