The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Definition
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974: the law that requires an employer to protect the health and safety of everyone affected by its work, including staff, visitors and customers.
Risk assessment: a written check of what could cause harm in a workplace and of what the business will do to prevent it.
- A safe workplace: premises, machinery and working methods must all be safe, which means guarded machines, clear walkways, proper ventilation and equipment kept in working order.
- Training and supervision: staff must be shown how to lift safely, handle chemicals and food, and operate machinery, and new starters must be supervised until they can do it safely.
- Protective equipment: gloves, goggles, ear defenders, hard hats and high-visibility jackets have to be supplied by the employer, free of charge.
- Risk assessment and records: the business has to assess what could cause harm, write down what it will do about it, keep an accident book and provide first aid.
- Employees have duties too, since they must take reasonable care, follow their training and use the equipment they are given.
Example
- At a JCB factory every new production worker is trained on the machine they will use, and guards are checked before a line starts up.
- The training days and the checks cost output, but one serious injury would stop the line, bring in an inspector and cost far more.
- A Greggs bakery faces the same duty in a different form, with slip-resistant floors, oven training and food handling rules.
How health and safety law affects the business
- Spending on equipment: guards, ventilation, protective clothing, fire equipment and regular maintenance all have to be bought and then replaced as they wear out.
- Paid training time: every new starter needs a safety induction and existing staff need refreshers, all of it paid time away from producing or selling.
- Record keeping: risk assessments, equipment checks and accident reports have to be written up and kept, so a manager spends time on paperwork rather than on output.
- Slower working: checks before a machine restarts, limits on how much one person may lift and compulsory breaks all reduce how much is produced in an hour.
- Fewer accidents and lower insurance: a good safety record means less absence, no compensation claims and a lower insurance premium, and staff who feel protected are more likely to stay.
- Consequences of a breach: an inspector from the Health and Safety Executive can order work to stop until a danger is fixed, and a serious breach brings a heavy fine, compensation for the injured worker and prosecution of the managers responsible.
Common Mistake
The cost of meeting safety law falls hardest on businesses with dangerous work, such as factories, building firms and kitchens, and lightest on an office.
Consumer law and trade descriptions
Definition
Trade description: any claim a business makes about a product or service, which the law requires to be honest and accurate.
Fit for purpose: the product does the job a customer could reasonably expect it to do.
- Descriptions must be honest everywhere a customer sees them: adverts, packaging, labels, menus and online listings, including price claims such as "was £80, now £40".
- Goods and services must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose, so they have to work properly and last a reasonable time.
- When a product is faulty or was not as described, the customer has the right to a refund, a repair or a replacement.
- The seller is responsible, not the manufacturer, so the shop that took the customer's money is the one that has to put it right.
Example
- If Currys lists a television as 4K and the panel is not, the description is false and every buyer can return it.
- A butcher labelling imported beef as British, or a cafe calling a bought-in cake "home-made", breaks the same rule.
- Currys deals with the refunds itself and then claims the cost back from its supplier.
How consumer law affects the business
- Checking every claim: adverts, labels and website listings have to be checked before they go out, which takes management time and sometimes paid legal advice.
- Staff training: shop and call centre staff need to know what a customer is entitled to, so that they neither refuse a lawful refund nor give away money the business does not owe.
- The cost of returns: refunds, replacements and return postage all cost money, and stock that comes back rarely sells again at full price.
- Tighter quality checks: because the seller carries the cost of faults, it inspects deliveries, keeps records of complaints and drops suppliers whose goods keep failing.
- Trust and repeat custom: honest descriptions and easy refunds bring customers back and earn recommendations, which is why many retailers give more than the law demands.
- Consequences of a breach: trading standards can investigate, a false description can lead to prosecution and a fine, customers can reclaim their money, and the publicity drives away trade the business had already won.
Note
- Keep the two apart: health and safety law protects people at work, while consumer law protects people buying.
- Both act on the business in the same shape, which is spending on prevention now against fines, claims and lost customers later.
Exam technique
- A common wording is explain one effect on this business of meeting health and safety law, which wants one named cost or change in practice traced through to output, profit or staff.
- On consumer law, name the requirement, honest description or satisfactory quality, then the effect, checking adverts or paying for returns.
- Avoid the vague answer about "following the rules", which would fit any law and any business.
Self review
- What must an employer provide under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974?
- Give two costs and two benefits to a business of meeting health and safety law.
- What does the law require of the descriptions a business gives its products?
- What is a customer entitled to when goods are faulty or not as described?
- Who has to put a faulty purchase right, the shop or the manufacturer?
