Introduction

Introduction

The main purpose of health and safety law is to prevent unsafe acts or situations which may arise, thus reducing the likelihood of accidents occurring and preventing injury or loss of life. Safety legislation provides clear information and guidance for us, it has been formulated to assist and protect us all. Risk occurs, it is an inevitable factor, but it must be managed to create a safe working environment.

Macclesfield Town Council take health and safety seriously and we understand our duties as an employer. It is our intention to fully embrace all aspects of health and safety law applicable to us.

We intend to manage and conduct our activities safely to avoid any harm to persons who may be affected either directly or indirectly by our activities.

Our Health and Safety Management System and documentation has been prepared following the Health and Safety Executive defined guidelines as set out in the guidance note ‘HSG65’ and utilises agreed principles to achieve our intentions: a safe place of work. It follows the Plan, Do, Check, Act, concept of risk management.

Plan Do Check Act

 

Health & Safety Management System

Macclesfield Town Council Health and Safety Management System consists of the following elements:

  • Our Health and Safety Management System is provided to state our intentions and set a clear direction for people to follow. We expect all our employees to understand and comply with our arrangements.
  • We have ongoing commitments to achieve our intentions and maintain high standards. To help us meet these commitments employees will be empowered to assist with certain tasks. Information is provided to employees describing responsibilities and duties of key people. We will provide training where it is required.
  • To ensure our workplace is safe and risk is managed effectively we have devised safety arrangements. It is important that we fulfil our duties with respect to legislation and guidance that applies to us. We recognise that continuous improvement is vital to help us maintain our standards and achieve compliance.
  • An amendment status record is included at the end of this section. This information helps us to manage and control our documentation ensuring it remains current.
  • The Health and Safety Management System will be reviewed at least annually. The date of review will be indicated on the Health and Safety Statement of Intent.

Legislation Overview

There is a moral obligation on us to take care of everyone at work and those who might be affected by the work we undertake. This is reflected in Common law, in Statute law and enforced by the regulatory authorities. Health and safety legislation goes further than just ‘common sense’ or ‘reasonable care’ and places duties of absolute, practicable or reasonably practicable care.

We have a clear understanding of the duties placed on us and ensure that we have ‘suitable and sufficient’ assessments, systems and control measures in place.

This Health and Safety Management System and guidance written form the basis of our intentions. This will be supported with training for employees at the appropriate level and detail.

Identifying the relevant legislation and implementing safety systems is the first step to our compliance – maintaining standards with regular checks and audits is also required. The enforcement agencies expect compliance and this is the best way to avoid accidents and incidents occurring.

Regardless of whether there has been an accident or incident it can result in enforcement action and fines, especially following the implementation of Fee for Intervention (FFI) which allowed the Health and Safety Executive to charge for their visits when a breach is noted.

Copies of the key pieces of legislation (acts and regulations) are freely available online and this is supported with more user-friendly publications in the form of ‘approved codes of practice’ and ‘guidance notes’ from the website www.hse.gov.uk. We will obtain copies in the first instance of the legislation of most relevance to us. These documents provide information on the fundamentals for establishing a sound Health and Safety Management System.

A summary of the key legislation is provided below – for our information. We have identified legislation that we consider is applicable to us. The following list has been compiled to help draw our attention to this information and to our duties.

 

  • The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
  • Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
  • Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (as amended)
  • The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
  • Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
  • The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended).
  • The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013
  • The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended)
  • Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (as amended)
  • The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002
  • Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (as amended)
  • Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 (as amended)
  • Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
  • Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (as amended) and Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (as amended)
  • Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015
  • Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005
  • Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
  • Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989 (as amended)
  • Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
  • Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act 1920
  • Equality Act 2010
  • Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended)
  • Coronavirus Act 2020
  • The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020
  • Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984
  • The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) (England) Regulations 2020

Management of Documentation

Macclesfield Council Proprietor, James Perry is the person nominated to maintain and control this document and will ensure that all amendments are incorporated and that each revision or re-issue is recorded together with a dedicated Health and Safety Consultant from Wirehouse Employer Services.

Issue Details

Issue Number

Reason For Issue / Re-Issue

Name

Date

1

Initial

Wirehouse ES Ltd

Dec 2015

2

Reformatting

PT

Oct 2017

3

Reviewed and updated

Wirehouse ES Ltd

Nov 2017

 

Reviewed and updated

Wirehouse ES Ltd

Mar 2020

 

Reviewed and updated

Wirehouse ES Ltd

Oct 2022


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