Improving Safety Performance

Your new job on a building site needs safety boots and a hard hat. A supervisor says the cost will be taken from your first wage. What does the law say?

• AThe employer can charge you if the boots are good quality
• BYou pay for it but can claim the cost back after a year
• CYou pay for boots but the employer pays for the hard hat
• DThe employer must provide the PPE free of charge✓

Answer: Where a risk assessment shows PPE is necessary, the employer has a duty to provide it free of charge and cannot charge workers for PPE they require to do their work. This applies to employees and, since 6 April 2022, to limb (b) workers too. Deducting the cost from wages, splitting the cost or charging for better-quality items are all ruled out.

The strap on your safety goggles has snapped and the lenses are scratched. What does HSE guidance say you should do?

• AWork without them until the next scheduled PPE inspection
• BTape the strap and carry on, as replacement is your own responsibility
• CReport the defect to your employer so the goggles can be replaced✓
• DBuy a new pair yourself and keep the receipt for your records

Answer: Workers must use PPE properly following their training and instruction, return it to the storage area provided and report to the employer if PPE is lost or becomes defective. The employer is responsible for the maintenance, storage and replacement of the PPE it provides. Patching it up, buying your own or working unprotected leaves you without suitable protection and ignores where the replacement duty sits.

A casual worker on a zero-hours arrangement, not an employee, is told the PPE rules do not apply to them. What is the position today?

• AOnly employees, those with a contract of employment, are covered
• BCasual workers are covered only if they ask for PPE in writing
• CCasual workers are now covered, so the employer must provide PPE free✓
• DCasual workers must buy PPE but can claim the cost as expenses

Answer: Since 6 April 2022 the PPE Regulations cover casual and other 'limb (b)' workers as well as employees, and the employer must provide their PPE free of charge. Where a risk assessment shows a limb (b) worker needs PPE, the employer must assess its suitability and provide it free of charge, exactly as for employees. The changes do not apply to the genuinely self-employed, and there is no written-request or expenses route.

Your employer plans to bring in a new packing machine and speed up the line. Under the consultation regulations, what must happen?

• AOnly the trade union needs to agree, whether or not staff are members
• BEmployees or their representatives must be consulted in good time✓
• CThe change can go ahead as long as a notice is put on the board
• DEmployees must vote on it and the change needs a majority to proceed

Answer: Employers must consult employees or their representatives, in good time, about the introduction of any measure that may substantially affect their health and safety, and HSE gives new systems of work such as the speed of a process line and shift-work arrangements as examples. Consultation means giving information and listening before deciding, not just posting a notice. It does not require a staff vote, and where staff are not union members the 1996 Regulations still require consultation.

A colleague is thinking of standing as an elected representative of employee safety but worries it could count against them. What does the law say?

• AStanding for election is allowed only with the manager's written approval
• BEmployees are protected from being penalised for taking part in consultation✓
• CRepresentatives must do the role unpaid and in their own time
• DRepresentatives can be disciplined if their activities disrupt production

Answer: The law protects employees from being penalised because they have taken part in health and safety consultation, including standing as a candidate or electing a representative. Representatives are entitled to paid time to carry out their functions and to be trained. Disciplining a representative for carrying out their functions, requiring management approval to stand, or making the role unpaid would all breach these protections.

Which of these must every workplace make available under the Workplace Regulations, whatever the type of work?

• AA free hot drink at the start of each shift
• BA subsidised canteen serving hot meals
• CLockers with charging points for phones
• DAn adequate supply of drinking water✓

Answer: The Workplace Regulations require an adequate supply of high-quality drinking water, with an upward drinking jet or suitable cups, along with clean toilets and washing facilities with hot and cold or warm water, soap and towels. Where eating facilities are provided they should include a means of getting a hot drink, but a subsidised canteen, free drinks or phone-charging lockers are not required.

On your first day at a small accountancy office, what first-aid information should your employer have given you?

• AA copy of the first-aid needs assessment and the training certificates
• BA personal first-aid kit for your desk and a list of local hospitals
• CThe phone number of the nearest GP surgery and pharmacy
• DWho the first-aider or appointed person is and where the kit is✓

Answer: Employers must inform employees of their first-aid arrangements, and HSE says notices telling staff who and where the first-aiders or appointed persons are and where the first-aid box is will usually be enough. Copies of the needs assessment and certificates, a personal kit for every desk, or GP and pharmacy numbers are not what the guidance requires.

In a low-hazard shop with eight staff the manager says no one needs first-aid training so nothing is needed. What is the minimum HSE says any workplace must have?

• AA qualified first-aider on every shift, plus a dedicated first-aid room
• BA first-aid kit with tablets and medicines for common ailments
• CA stocked kit, an appointed person and information for staff✓
• DA first-aid poster and a phone with the emergency number saved

Answer: The minimum first-aid provision on any work site is a suitably stocked first-aid kit, an appointed person to take charge of first-aid arrangements, and information for employees about those arrangements. An appointed person does not need first-aid training, and a trained first-aider or first-aid room is only needed where the needs assessment identifies it. HSE recommends that tablets and medicines are not kept in the first-aid box.

A colleague slips at work and is off for nine days, not counting the day of the accident. From the worker's side, what kind of RIDDOR incident is this?

• AAn over-three-day injury that only needs recording
• BA minor injury the colleague must report to HSE personally
• CAn over-seven-day injury that the employer must report✓
• DA specified injury reportable by phone the same day

Answer: Under RIDDOR an over-seven-day injury is where a worker is away from work or unable to do their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident, and the employer or responsible person must report it. Incapacity of more than three days must be recorded but is only reported if it goes on to exceed seven days. A slip causing time off is not a specified injury, and the reporting duty sits with the employer, not the injured worker.

The hook block on a crane fails and a pallet of bricks falls in the yard. Nobody is hurt. Why might your employer still have to make a RIDDOR report?

• ADamage to materials worth more than a set amount is always reportable
• BFailure of lifting equipment is a dangerous occurrence, even with no injury✓
• CCrane incidents are reportable only when the operator is over seven days off
• DAny near miss on a construction site must be reported, whatever the outcome was

Answer: RIDDOR requires certain dangerous occurrences, which are specified near-miss events with the potential to cause harm, to be reported, and HSE gives the collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment as an example. Not every near miss is reportable, so there is no blanket rule for construction sites, and RIDDOR has no property-damage threshold. The over-seven-day rule concerns injured workers, not equipment failures.

You trip on a loose cable in the office but are unhurt. Which of these is the right thing to do?

• AReport it to HSE yourself using the online RIDDOR form
• BSay nothing at all, since only actual injuries ever need to be reported to anyone
• CReport it as a near miss so it can be recorded and the cable made safe✓
• DStep over it from now on and just warn the few people who sit closest to it

Answer: Workers have a duty to take care of their own health and safety and that of others, and HSE's guide for workers says you can inform your employer about health and safety issues or concerns. Reporting a near miss lets the cable be recorded and made safe before someone is hurt. A trip that causes no injury is not a RIDDOR matter, RIDDOR reports are made by the employer or responsible person rather than individual workers, and keeping quiet or just warning your neighbours leaves the cable in place for the next person.

You are moving to permanent night shifts in a bakery. According to HSE's guide for workers, what must your employer provide free of charge?

• AA health check that you pay for but the employer arranges for you
• BPrivate health insurance for as long as you stay on night shifts
• CA health check before starting nights and regular checks after✓
• DA one-off medical only if you ask for one in writing

Answer: HSE's guide for workers says your employer must provide, free of charge, regular health checks if you work nights and a check before you start, as well as health checks where there is a danger of ill health because of your work. The checks are not something you pay for or have to request in writing, and the guide says nothing about private insurance.

You are an agency worker placed in a warehouse for three months. Who is responsible for making sure your health and safety is managed properly?

• AYou alone, because agency staff are treated as self-employed
• BOnly the hirer, because the work takes place on its premises
• CThe agency and the hirer must co-operate on it together✓
• DOnly the agency, because it is the one that pays your wages

Answer: HSE's guide for workers says that if you are a temporary, casual or agency worker, your agency, gangmaster or contractor needs to co-operate and communicate with the business using your services, the hirer, to ensure your health and safety is managed effectively. Neither side can leave it wholly to the other, and agency workers are covered by the guide rather than being treated as self-employed.

After cutting your hand on a blade you are off for four days, not counting the day of the accident. Your employer says nothing needs writing down because it is not a RIDDOR report. Is that right?

• AIt needs neither recording nor reporting, as four days is below the limit
• BIt only needs recording if you decide to make a compensation claim
• CIt must be reported online to HSE within the same working week
• DIt must still be recorded, and an accident book entry is enough✓

Answer: RIDDOR requires a record of any occupational accident that leaves a worker away from work or incapacitated for more than three consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident, and an entry in the accident book is enough. Over-three-day injuries are not reported unless the incapacity goes on to exceed seven days, so an online report is not needed here, and recording does not depend on any claim. Records must be produced if an inspector asks.