This article explains the principal duties imposed by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 so employers and employees in Great Britain can understand how workplace risks must be assessed and managed. The Regulations require employers to assess risks and make effective arrangements to plan, organise, control, monitor and review preventive and protective measures.
Often called the ‘Management Regulations’, they apply across most workplaces in England, Scotland and Wales, subject to limited exceptions. Northern Ireland has separate regulations. Failure to comply with an applicable requirement will normally be a criminal offence and may lead to enforcement action.
The first Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations were made in 1992 and came into force on 1 January 1993. They implemented requirements arising from European health and safety directives, including the risk-assessment approach in Council Directive 89/391/EEC.
The 1992 Regulations supplemented the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 by making suitable and sufficient risk assessment an explicit requirement across most workplaces in Great Britain.
The 1999 Regulations re-enacted the 1992 Regulations with modifications and came into force on 29 December 1999. They remain in force but have since been amended.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers in Great Britain must, so far as reasonably practicable, protect employees and conduct their work so that others are not exposed to health and safety risks. Employees must take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others.
The Management Regulations build on these duties by requiring employers to assess and manage risks. Preventive and protective measures must be implemented in accordance with the general principles of prevention.
Key employer duties under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 include:
- Assess risks and, if employing five or more people, record significant findings and groups especially at risk
- Apply the general principles of prevention when selecting controls
- Plan, organise, control, monitor and review preventive and protective measures, recording the arrangements if employing five or more people
- Appoint one or more competent people to assist with compliance
- Establish procedures for serious and imminent danger and arrange necessary contacts with external services
- Provide employees with comprehensible and relevant information, instruction and adequate training
- Cooperate and coordinate with other employers or self-employed people sharing the workplace
- Consider employees’ capabilities and provide appropriate health surveillance
- Assess and control specific risks to new or expectant mothers and young persons under 18
The Management Regulations also impose specific duties on employees, although these do not reduce the employer’s responsibilities. Employee duties under regulation 14 and the 1974 Act include:
- Use work equipment, dangerous substances and safety devices in accordance with training and instructions
- Report any work situation they reasonably consider a serious and immediate danger that affects them or arises from their work
- Report any shortcoming they reasonably identify in the employer’s protective arrangements that affects them or arises from their work
- Take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others, and cooperate with their employer
The Regulations have been amended several times. A 2003 amendment allowed employees to bring civil claims for breaches of employer duties, but that general position changed on 1 October 2013.
Current regulation 22 expressly permits claims by new or expectant mothers for damage caused by breaches of regulations 16, 16A, 17 or 17A. Other injured people may still pursue compensation claims in negligence where the legal requirements are met.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 form part of Great Britain’s health and safety law and supplement the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Failure to comply with an applicable requirement will normally be a criminal offence.
The relevant enforcing authority may provide advice or serve an improvement or prohibition notice. In England and Wales, it may also prosecute; in Scotland, prosecution decisions are made by the procurator fiscal. A conviction may result in a fine and, for certain offences committed by individuals, imprisonment.
Employers must provide adequate health and safety training during working hours when employees are recruited or exposed to new or increased risks. Training supports understanding and compliance, but it is only one part of the wider arrangements required to manage workplace risks.
Many employers use online courses because they can be completed flexibly and may be more cost-effective than classroom-based alternatives where online delivery is suitable for the risks.
Human Focus provides online health and safety courses covering a wide range of sectors and workplace topics. Where applicable, approval or accreditation details are stated on the relevant course page.
