Health and safety

What does health and
safety legislation REQUIRE?

As a self employed person (or a limited company director) you’ll need to make sure your business premises meet health and safety requirements. You should assess the risks, not just to yourself, but to anyone else that might come about as a result of your operation.

This could include people you come into contact with directly because of your work, or it could be neighbours, family members or visitors.

‘If you have interaction with members of the public during the course of your activity then you have a duty under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc 1974,’ the Health and Safety Executive told liveworkhomes.com.

‘This covers everything from somebody being injured because something falls on them, to exposing someone to asbestos.’

This legislation is statutory, and other laws outside the Health and Safety at Work etc Act may also apply, such as those relating to the control of substances harmful to health, carriage of dangerous goods, trading standards or packaging legislation.

What if I have no contact with
anyone else while I’m working?

Most of the duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act are aimed at employers, but Section 7 says you have to fulfill your side of the bargain by making sure you have taken all reasonable steps to protect yourself.

If you work for yourself and have no contact with the public then most things would come under the realm of common sense. There’s nothing in law, for example, to stop you using your laptop in the bath, although clearly this wouldn’t be a particularly good idea...

I’m supposed to assess the risks – do I need to record these?

Unless there are five or more people working at your premises, there is no need to record the results of your risk assessment or to employ an external risk assessor.

You are only likely to be affected by additional legislation if you’re using potentially hazardous substances or processes in the course of your work, and even then these would only be what you would expect to find in the normal range of health and safety legislation.

‘There is a very important phrase built into the Health and Safety at Work Act,’ says the HSE spokesperson, ‘and that is “as far as is reasonably practicable”.’

‘If you’ve done all you can and taken all reasonable steps to reduce the risks, then there’s still going to be that one in a million chance that someone could get hurt. It’s impossible to eliminate risk altogether. All you can do is manage the risk.’

For more information visit the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Business Link