The History of UK Health and Safety Law

The origins of health and safety law in the UK can be traced back to the time of the industrial revolution. In this boom time for proprietors of industrial businesses - workers came under increasing pressure to achieve more and more output. In an environment with little or no external controls and rapid development of new, innovative and sometimes dangerous process, equipment and machinery - accidents could and did happen.


In 1862 the beam of a pumping engine at Hartley Colliery in Northumberland broke blocking the only mineshaft and means of ventilation, resulting in the death of 204 miners. Legislation followed shortly after, requiring that every seam in a mine should have at least two shafts or outlets.


In 1974 a badly designed modification to a chemical processing plant failed, releasing several tonnes of cyclohexane at high pressure and temperature. The explosion that followed killed a large number of people and widespread damage was caused. Two years later this was followed by a major environmental disaster from the escape of highly toxic substances from a pesticide process in Italy. Legislation resulting from these disasters enacted the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards (CIMAH) Regulations 1984. This imposed on manufacturers using specific dangerous substances the obligation to prepare a safety case, to be submitted to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This safety case was required to demonstrate that the major hazard potentials of the activity had been identified and adequate controls provided.


These two cases are different because the first was a specific response to a specific problem, the second is indicative of a change in mentality. Safety was no longer to be viewed as an afterthought - a catch up exercise once new technology was in place. Instead prior to installation of any process, method, equipment, in fact anything where there was a potential risk to people or environment - safety risks had to be identified and mitigated.


Now as a leading industrialised nation the UK has some of the strongest health and safety legislation in the world. This combined with the almost universal use of safety signs which meet the “The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 (Statutory Instrument 1996 No.341)" mean that industrial health and safety is generally taken very seriously and the incidence of serious workplace accidents reduces every year.


If you add to this an active and powerful Health and Safety Executive - the UK can be proud of its recent record on Health and Safety. TheHSE would say that despite this - we shouldnt be complacent. There are still serious accidents and even deaths every year which have devastating effects on the lives of workers and their families. For example over 10,000 employees in the UK suffered a major injury as a result of a slip or trip at work in 2008/09. The current "shattered lives" campaign run by theHSE tries to promote a more pro-active attitude towards Health and Safety - recommending:



Education



The use of risk assessments



Involvement of employees



The use of safety signs



Making safety the 1st priority



150 years on from the industrial revolution - were all safer at work - but still not safe enough.