Kevin K ib aka 1393796 Task 3
Kevin K ib aka
1393796
Task 3
?Healt h a n d s a fe ty l e gis la tio n
The Health and safety act 1974 was amended to protect health, safety and welfare of
persons at work. Aiming to protect them against risks to health or safety in connection with
the activities of persons at work. ? ( le gis la tio n.g o v.u k, 2 0 18 )
The Health and safety legislation has become increasingly ill-suited to accommodate to
trends in the economy and in the nature of employment. This health and safety act 1974
established the health and safety commission and executive which merged in 2008. The
health and safety executive role is to reduce work related death and serious injury in the
workplace. The health and safety executive is an executive non-department body,
sponsored by the department for work and pensions.
Im po rta n ce o f H ealt h & S a fe ty i n t h e w ork p la ce
Providing health and safety training help employees in ways:
? Ensure that employees are not injured or made ill by the work they do.
? Develop a positive health and safety culture, where safe and healthy working
becomes an important nature to everyone.
? Find out how employees could manage health and safety better
Therefore, to produce a safe health and safety, employers must make sure to produce an
effective training which will contribute towards making the employees competent in health
and safety duties. It will help the business to avoid the trouble that accidents and ill health
may cause. Therefore, through health and safety training, the company will avoid spending
money on financial costs of accidents and work ill health. ? ( h se .g o v.u k, 2 0 18)
Th e l e ga l r e m ed ie s a va ila b le t o e m plo ye e s w it h c iv il a n d c rim in al l a w u nder
th e l e gis la tio n
Under the civil law ?, the business has the duty to take care of all the people who can be
affected by their activities. The employer can face claim of compensation in the civil courts if
the employees or claimants prove that the employer has a legal liability to pay damages for
personal injury doe to his negligence, breach of statutory duty. For example, the case law of
Stark v post office (2000). A postman was seriously injured with the bicycle provided by the
post office during a course of his employment. The front of the wheel locked and made him
fall and hurt himself. The claimant sue the post office by claiming that the business has been
negligent toward the maintenance and reparation of the bicycle, even though , the
post-office is known to have a safe system of maintenance and repair, and the post office
were not negligent according to divers source. The claimant succeed, the court held that the
employer was liable to the claimant since there is a strict liability under health and safety
legislation.
Kevin K ib aka
1393796
Under the criminal law, ? ?also aimed to protect employees and non-employees from being
affected by the work activities. The employer is required by the law to protect employees
and non-employees from risks connected with the business activities. The health and safety
executive have enforce the policy by making sure the prosecutions are only if they are in the
public interest and if some of the following have taken place:
– A deal as a result of the legislation
– A ignorance of health and safety requirements
– A repeated breaches which give rise to significant risk,or persistent poor compliance.
If the company or individual is found breaking the law or being seriously negligent in
managing the convenient procedure of reducing the risk of injury, it can lead to him
receiving an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment.
(hse.gov.uk, 2018)
Th e l e ga l r e q uir e m en ts C ake s S o lu tio ns m ust c o m ply w it h r e ga rd in g h ealt h
an d s a fe ty
Business such as Cakes Solutions have a basic duty of care in which they must make sure the
health, safety and welfare of their employees are being respected so the business can avoid
putting themselves into trouble. The employer of Cakes Solutions is expected to:
– Provide and maintain safe systems of work.
– Ensure safe use of substances.
– Provide information, training and supervision as necessary.
– Insure the workplace is maintained in a safe condition.
-Provide and maintain a safe working environment and adequate welfare arrangement.
-Prepare and revise as necessary a written statement of safety policy, bringing it to the
attention of all the employees.
– Consult with safety representatives.
Tra d e u nio n i m po rta n ce i n t h e w ork p la ce
– They ensure more job security for workers (its members).
– They protect workers against physical or mental torture and exploitation of their superior
in the workplace.
– Protect women employees against sexual harassment.
– With their protection, workers can remain motivated and their economic, social, political
well being are taken care of.
Kevin K ib aka
1393796
They objectives are to represent the workers, negotiate their wages and salaries and make
sure that they are working in better conditions. This include overtime payment, holidays,
promotion opportunities and maternity and paternity rights.
Th ere a re 4 m ain t y p es o f t h e t r a d e u nio n w hic h t h e c ra ft u nio n, g e n era l
unio n, w hit e c o lo ur u nio n a n d i n du str ia l u nio n.
Cra ft u nio n: ? ? They represent workers with particular skills such as plumbers and weavers.
Gen era l u nio n: ? ?They represent workers from all types of industries.
Whit e c o lo ur u nio n: ? ?They represent office workers. For example, Teachers and Doctors.
In dustr ia l u nio n: ? ?They represent workers from a particular industry such as fire brigade.
Fu nctio ns o f t r a d e u nio n
Increase cooperation and wellbeing among workers
As a legal institution, the trade union want firstly to increase the cooperation and wellbeing
between employees. Nowadays, the industry is very demanding toward people. Each
worker must have a specialization in jobs, which result in a lot of competition between the
employees and bring division of labor. Everyone become individual and prefer to
self-development and formal relationship which lead to the lack of communication among
workers. (yourarticlelibrary.com, 2018)
Establishing contacts between the workers and the employers
In some companies especially establishment, some workers have not the opportunity to
meet their employers or managers as the task is given to their subordinate. Therefore, in
this point the trade union play a significant role, trying to organise face to face meetings to
establish contacts between employers/managers with their workers. They bring notice to
the employers of the employees’ difficulties and grievance of the employees.
(yourarticlelibrary.com, 2018)
Importance of trade union for a business like Cakes Solutions
In such important legislation, the trade union as an organisation united with workers to
protect and promote common interest such as working conditions terms, regulations of
relationship between workers (its members) and employers and negotiate wages, in health
and safety process their main role is to consult with employers on health and safety matters
but also to carry out workplace inspections. ?(m ary k e en an , 2 018)
– They will need delegate a person or group of people who will be going to inspect the
business in regard of health and safety matter.
Kevin K ib aka
1393796
– Organise a meeting with their members if require just to make sure that their businesses
are working in conformity with the H;S legislation.
– what to do if anything happens such as disagreement between the employer and its
members.
The employer of Cakes Solution will need to give information to the union to help it with the
bargaining process. For example, the business’s pay and benefits structure or the profits,
services and liabilities. ? ( g o v.u k, 2 0 18 )
EU d ir e ctiv e s i m pact o n U K E m plo ym en t p ra ctis e ?
In the UK, employees do not have the right to a written contract of employment. But, as a
European union member the UK have the obligation to follow the rules which require that a
written statement stating the pay and conditions within 28 days of starting the work.
However, they are some jobs where people have zero hours in the basic contract which
result in them losing from this law. The reason may be because the employers are not
treating them like normal employees because they work only when they are needed and or
are not entitled to. As a result, they will not have any written information telling them how
much they will be making each week which will lead them to struggle to pay their rents and
household bills. The European Union have reviewed that directive and decided to ensure
that all workers including those with zero hours and agency to receive a written statement
setting out their pay rates and their expected hours of work. The EU have made major
changes on many areas such as working hours, working parents and carers, equal pay,
anti-discrimination rights and many more. ?(t u c.o rg .u k, 2 018)
Working hours
The working hours in the UK was around 48 hours’ maximum when it was carry out in 1998,
Normally on average weekly hours are 17 hours, a daily rest period of 11 hours, a weekly
hours of 24 hours of rest period including rest breaks during the working day. The
introduction of these rights have affected large number of people working many hours in
the UK. As a result, fewer employees working over 48 hours compared to 1998, only around
700,000 people are believed to work around 48 hours. These directives have also give the
UK workers a statutory right to be paid annual leave for the first time. Over 6 millions of
people have gained improvement entitlement since the introduction of this directive. The
annual paid leave is now a right any workers in the UK is entitled to. ?(h se .g o v.u k, 2 01 8)
Equal pay
The right to the equal pay between men and women is a very important right that the EU
have introduced in the EU treaty in which the UK government have amended directly in
courts. The findings were that they will implied the rights on equal pay in which legislation
to prevent those members’ states from being undercut by others who exploit the weaker
labour market position of women workers. As an EU member, this equal pay directive
amended by the EU has had a major positive impact on women’s pay and pension right in
the United Kingdom. (hse.gov.uk, 2018)
Kevin K ib aka
1393796
conclusion
The health and safety in the workplace is one of the most important thing employer must
take in full responsibility to talk to the employees about. It is in his duty to protect all the
personals of the establishment. Each employees need to be trained appropriately and
introduce regulations and policies to enforce it. The employer needs to ensure that
everyone is following these directives. As an employee, it is also his duty to talk to his
employer or manager about any technical issue or material which will require his superior
attention to find a solution about to avoid any incident in the future.
Kevin K ib aka
1393796
Bibliography
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