information

These links provide access to a selection of some of the original Acts and Regulations, providing the full script of information should you need to swot up.

Health and Safety at Work Act – 1974/C37
Confined Spaces Regulations – 1997/1713
Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act – 2007/C19
Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations – 1992/2792 Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations – 1991/2839
Gas Safety (Management) Regulations – 1996/551
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations – 2002/2677
Manual Handling Operations Regulations – 1992/2793
Personal Protective Equipment Regulations – 2002/1144
Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations – 1996/341
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations – 1992/3004
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations – 1998/2306
Working Time Regulations – 1998/1833
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations – 1999/3242
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations – 2015/51
Disability Discrimination Act – 1995/C50
Electricity at Work Regulations – 1989/635
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order – 2005/1541
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations – 1998/2451

Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations – 1998/2307
Control of Noise at Work Regulations – 2005/1643
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations – 2013/1471
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations – 2006/3289 Work at Height Regulations – 2005/735

BTW, H&S legislators luv acronyms and abbreviations. To make UR life EZ we’ve compiled some of the most common ones below.

You may never need to know these but if the day comes along when you do you’ll know where to find them!

ACOP - Approved Code of Practice
ADR - European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (see RID
ALARP - As Low as Reasonably Practicable (see SFAIRP)
BOHS - British Occupational Hygiene Society
BSI - British Standards Institute
BTS - British Toxicology Society
C(WP) - Construction (Work Place) Regulations
CBI - Confederation of British Industry
CDG - The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations
CDM - Construction (Design & Management) Regulations
CE - The letters ‘CE’ do not represent any specific words but the mark is a declaration by the manufacturer, indicating that the product satisfies all relevant European Directives. Note, however, that the mark only applies to products that fall within the scope of European Directives.
CFC - Chlorofluorocarbons
CFM - ubic Feet per Minute Amount of air flowing through a given space in one minute 1 CFM approximately equals 2 litres per second (l/s)
CHIP - Chemical Hazards Information and Packaging
CO - Carbon Monoxide
CO2 - Carbon Dioxide
COMAH - Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations
CONIAC - Construction Industry Advisory Committee
COSHH - Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations
CNS - Central Nervous System
CRT - Cathode Ray Tube
CTS - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
CVD - Cardiovascular Disease
DB - Decibel
DDA - Disability Discrimination Act
DSE - Display Screen Equipment
DSEAR - Dangerous Substances & Explosive Atmosphere Regulations
EA - Environmental Agency
EAW - Electricity at Work Regulations
EHO - Enviromental Health Office
EMAS - Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
FA - Factories Act
FH(G) - Food Hygiene (General) Regulations
FLT - Fork Lift Truck
FPA - Fire Precautions Act
FPWR - Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations
HAZCHEM - Hazardous Chemical Warning Signs
HSC - Health & Safety Commission
HSDSER - Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations
HSE - Health &Safety Executive
ICOH - International Commission on Occupational Health
IOSH - Institution of Occupational Safety & Health
LOLER - Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations
LPG - Liquid Petroleum Gas
MAPP - Major Accident Prevention Policy
MEL - Maximum Exposure Limit
MHOR - Manual Handling Operation Regulations
MHSWR - Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations
MSD - Musculoskeletal Disorder
MSDS - Material Data Safety Sheet
NAWR - Noise at Work Regulations
NEBOSH - National Examination Board of Occupational Safety and Health
NIHL - Noise Induced Hearing Loss
OHAC - Occupational Health Advisory Committee of The Health & Safety Commission
OHSAS 18001 - BSI Standard for Occupational Health & Safety
OSRPA - Offices Shops & Railway Premises Act
PAT - Portable Appliance Test
PPE - Personal Protective Equipment
PPEWR - Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations
Ppb - Parts per billion
Ppm - Parts per million
PUWER - Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations
QA/QC - Quality Assurance/Quality Control
RCD - European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (see ADR)
RID - Reporting of Injuries, Disease & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
RIDDOR - Record of In-Training Assessment
RITA - Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
RoSPA - Respiratory Protective Equipment
RPE - Regional Specialty Adviser
RSA - Repetitive Strain Injury
RSI - Sick Building Syndrome
SBS - Sick Building Syndrome
SFAIRP - So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable (see ALARP)
VDU - Visual Display Uni
WHSWR - Work Related Upper Limb Disorder

There are plenty of abbreviations and jargon in the world of H&S, here are some of the more well-known ones you may come across.

Approved Code of Practice
Approved Codes of Practice are published by the HSE to cover many regulations. Approved Codes of Practice although not law themselves do give guidance on how to comply with the law and as such have a special legal status, similar to the Highway Code. If you comply with an Approved Code of Practice it is likely that you will be doing enough to comply with the law.

Best Practice
A management concept that there is a way that is more effective at delivering results than others. This is often considered alongside benchmarking, which is about making comparisons with others and learning the lessons that those comparisons throw up

Competent Person
A Competent Person is defined by the HSE as somebody with the skill, knowledge, practical experience and training to enable them to assess the risks arising from the work activity.

Controls
Actions taken or measures put in place to reduce risks arising from work activity.

dB(A)
Sound measured using the ‘A weighting’. Commonly used as the measurement of environmental or industrial noise.

Due Diligence
Some health and safety regulations allow a defence of ‘due diligence’. This allows a person who may be subject to legal proceedings to establish a defence if they can show that they have taken ‘all reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence. Interestingly this defence is not available under The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Duty of Care
A legal precedent which states that ‘You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you could reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour’. Established by Donoghue Vs Stevenson (1932). - It's what put Paisley on the map!

HASAWA
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. This is the primary health and safety legislation in the UK. It is considered an ‘umbrella’ act under which more specific regulations exist to cover specific areas of health and safety.

Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive are the enforcing authority for health and safety legislation in the UK.

Heinrich's Domino Theory
A theory on accident causation proposed by Heinrich in the 1920's. Heinrich's Domino Theory suggests that an accident leading to injury or damage is the result of a five stage sequence and each stage (domino) represents a linked cause. Remove any one and the sequence cannot run its course and the accident will be prevented. The five stages are;
1. Work Situation,
2. Fault of Person,
3. Unsafe Act,
4. Accident,
5. Injury or Damage.

IIRSM
The International Institute of Risk and Safety Management. A professional body for health and safety pacticioners, created to advance professional standards in accident prevention and occupational health throughout the world.

Luminance
Measure of luminous intensity of a light source. Measured in Candela.

Lux
Unit of measurement for illuminance.

Negligence
‘Negligence is the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or do something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do.’ Blyth Vs Birmingham Waterworks Co. (1856)

Permit to Work
A permit to Work is a formal, written procedure used to control work activities which are identified as particularly hazardous and where special precautions are required to control the hazards. Primarily used for non-routine work activities

Practicable
In health and safety law this term is usually taken as meaning 'that which is physically possible, in light of current knowledge and invention.'

Reasonably Practicable
The degree of risk in a particular situation can be balanced against the cost, in terms of time, trouble, money and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid the risk. If this cost is disproportionate to the risk it would be unreasonable to expect any employer to incur those costs to avoid the risk

Six Pack
The Six Pack was the UK Government's response to the EU Framework Directive and comprised; The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 The Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992 The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992

Vicarious Liability
An employer can be found to be vicariously liable for negligent acts or omissions by their employee in the course of their employment whether or not such act or omission was specifically authorised by the employer. To avoid vicarious liability an employer must demonstrate that the employee was not negligent in that the employee was reasonably careful or that the employee was acting in his own right, rather than on the employer's business.

Volenti Non Fit Injuria
Latin for 'to a willing person, no injury is done. This doctrine holds that a person who knowingly and willingly puts himself in a dangerous situation cannot sue for any resulting injuries.

Fires
Class A - Fires in ordinary combustible materials such as wood, cloth, paper, etc.
Class B - Fires in flammable liquids and liquefiable solids or electrical fires.
Class C - Fires involving gases.
Class D - Fires involving combustible metals such as potassium or sodium.
Class F - Fires involving cooking oils or fats.

As far as reasonably practicable
The degree of risk in a particular situation can be balanced against the cost, in terms of time, trouble, money and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid the risk. If this cost is disproportionate to the risk it would be unreasonable to expect any employer to incur those costs to avoid the risk.

So Far As reasonably practicable
The degree of risk in a particular situation can be balanced against the cost, in terms of time, trouble, money and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid the risk. If this cost is disproportionate to the risk it would be unreasonable to expect any employer to incur those costs to avoid the risk.

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