The Health and Safety at Work Act and various directives and industrial health and safety regulations are increasingly charging employers and employees with duties at the workplace.
Employers’ legal duties regarding workers and others, and employees’ statutory duties to employers and fellow workers, make it essential to businesses and their workforce to have some appreciation of basics of the work safety requirements and related decisions of the courts.
Factories Act 1961 applies where mechanical machinery is used by a business. It requires the workplace to be properly lit, properly ventilated, with sufficient toilet facilities. Under this Act moving machinery must have a fence surround; must be properly constructed and maintained, e.g., all hoists, lifts; must be kept unobstructed all floors, passages, and stairs; floors must not have slippery surfaces, and fire-escapes must be provided and maintained -due care must be exercised to avoid risks being taken or caused both to and by employees which may result in injury."
