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The HSE defines vulnerable workers as “individuals who are at risk of having their workplace entitlements denied and who lack the capacity to secure them”. They are at a higher risk to suffer injury, illness or even fatality at work, compared to the rest of workforce.
There are different categories of vulnerable workers, including:
When becoming aware of a vulnerable worker, employers are encouraged to review their existing risk assessment before the individual starts or continues in their role. Where the current risk assessment and arrangements in place already protect vulnerable persons then no further action may be required, but in many cases an individual risk assessment may be needed, considering the characteristics of the worker.
The process for assessing the risk to vulnerable workers is the same as that for general workers, but there should be specific focus on factors that make them more susceptible to harm which will often require input from the employee(s) and possibly others such as medical professionals too.
In the case of new and expectant mothers, there is an absolute duty under The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 for the employer to complete an individual risk assessment, when an employee informs them in writing that they:
The HSE has produced guidance on vulnerable workers and considerations when assessing the risk here.
Where possible, risk assessments should not be used to prevent a person from working, but instead enable the employer to make reasonable adjustments so that the employee can continue to work safely and without risk of harm to their health. However, in the case of new or expectant mothers there is the option to suspend the worker for the duration where risk may not be avoided.
The extent of “reasonable” will depend, among other things, on the size and nature of the business. Employers are not required to do more than what is considered reasonable (e.g. installing a lift can be an unreasonable adjustment for a small business, due to excessive cost).
To decide if an adjustment is reasonable, an employer should consider if:
It’s important when deciding to make or not make reasonable adjustments to protect workers that it does not result in non-compliance to other relevant legislation. For example failure to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled worker would be considered discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, also known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ or the ‘Protect Duty’, will be a new piece of anti-terrorism legislation which aims to ensure the public is better protected from terrorist threat. The law will extend to the entire UK.
The Protect Duty is part of the Government`s response to the Manchester Arena Inquiry, which recommended the introduction of legislation to improve the safety and security of public venues. It is also known as `Martyn`s Law`, after one of the victims in the Manchester Arena attack.
The draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, which was published on 2nd May 2023, would make it a legal duty for those responsible for qualifying public premises to consider the threat from terrorism and implement appropriate and proportionate mitigation measures.
Qualifying public premises
Premises that meet the following criteria are considered qualifying public premises.
Qualifying public events are events that meet the above criteria and have a maximum capacity of over 800 people.
Qualifying activities include entertainment and leisure, retail, food and drink, museums and galleries, sports grounds, public areas of local and central government buildings (e.g. town halls), visitor attractions, temporary events, places of worship, health, and education.
A tiered approach
Qualifying public premises will be split into 2 tiers:
All qualifying public premises would be required to have a designated responsible person, responsible for registration of the premises with the regulator. The person responsible for a qualifying public event must ensure also the regulator is notified of the event.
Other duties for premises will vary, depending on the tier.
Standard tier premises would be required to:
In addition to the above, enhanced tier premises and qualifying events would be required to:
For qualifying public events, the terrorism risk assessment must be completed at least 3 months before the event start date, unless the event was first advertised less than 3 months before the start date.
The terrorism risk assessment must consider what types of terrorist act are most likely to occur at or around their premises or event and the ‘reasonably practicable’ measures that might be expected to reduce the risk of such an act occurring, or the risk of physical harm to individuals as a result of such an act.
Terrorism protection training
The responsible person would be required to ensure all relevant workers receive adequate terrorism protection training in relation to the premises or event. The training must be undertaken at least every 12 months.
The Bill gives the fines for consequences of noncompliance for standard tier premises as up to £10,000, and for enhanced tier premises up to £18 million or 5% of the organisation’s revenue, whichever is greater.
Currently, there is no date confirmed for when the draft Bill will be officially transposed into law; however, once this happens there will be a lead time to allow those covered by the duty to prepare.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rolls on, it is easy to give in to COVID fatigue and stop thinking about COVID-19 risk in the workplace. However, it is essential that employers continue to manage the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace, and that they keep their risk assessment and associated controls up to date.
Below we’ve put a brief guide to risk assessments together, but for those starting from scratch, we’ve developed a brand new online course! You can read more about that here!
The fabled “5 steps to risk assessment” is tried and trusted and very much pushed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Guidance on this is available on the HSE website (https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/risk/index.htm). The key steps are highlighted below:
There are of course, other methods that you can use, but with respect to the fundamentals of risk assessment, this is what your assessment should cover. If completed properly this should satisfy the requirement for completing a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
Let’s have brief look at each of these stages with respect to specifically assessing the risk of employees returning to work in the office at this present time:
Think about your current workplace. Does it provide a safe environment for all at this time with respect to transmission of COVID-19? We are now a good 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic and at the present time, almost all legal restrictions are being lifted. The key is to ensure the transmission of COVID-19 within the workplace is minimised by all who are likely to occupy it and move within it.
Your employees, contractors, visitors, members of the public, just to name a few should come into your thinking. Think about who may be risk as result of the shift back to the office. Consider those particularly at risk. Are there those who may be classed as vulnerable? Do you have arrangements / systems in place to minimise the risk to this group?
In this step there is a requirement to concentrate on what controls are in place at the moment to minimise the transmission of COVID-19 within the workplace. These should be considered in making a judgement on the level of risk. Are more controls required for the workplace?
Such controls may include home-working, staggered start times, hybrid (office and home) working, social distancing, provision of masks / face-coverings, requirement for the use of masks / face-coverings, provision of hand sanitiser, signage, cleaning regimes, physical screens, restrictions on meeting room occupancy, one-way systems and minimising pinch points. Also think about the provision of information to employees, visitors and contractors and if suitable emergency arrangements are in place for the workplace with respect to fire evacuation and first aid provision.
Depending on which jurisdiction you are in (i.e. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) consult the relevant government guidance on managing COVID-19 in the workplace.
Ensure that your key findings are documented and communicated to those people at risk. Make sure your assessment is accessible if people want to read it. Make the assessment easy to understand and user friendly. This will promote compliance amongst those who are required to implement it.
As we have seen over the last 18 months, the situation with the pandemic can be become fluid very quickly, so it is important to keep abreast of current developments and changes in government guidance and the impact of these on your risk assessment. Thus, the findings of your risk assessment should be reviewed frequently. This will allow your assessment to remain suitable and sufficient and ultimately effective in managing the risk of transmission.
If you need more help. Why not click the image below and book on to our excellent risk assessment course? Specially designed by our experienced in-house consultants, this course has been built to be delivered remotely so it can be easily fitted into your busy schedule. The course has been split into 2 modules that will be delivered at different times to avoid online training fatigue.
Jurisdiction: UK
Commencement:
The following sections of the Act will commence on Royal Assent (30th December 2020):
The other provisions will commence on the day or days appointed by regulations.
Amends:
This Act implements into legislation ‘Agreements‘ that have been agreed between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) following the UK’s departure from the EU:
The Act is required to implement the Agreements for them to have domestic legal effect and to enable the UK Government to consent to the Agreements. It also enables the implementation of future arrangements and agreements.
The applicability to health and safety relates to Part 2 of the Act, specifically disclosure and sharing of non-food product safety information within the UK and with the EU.
Non-food product safety information includes the compliance of products, as well as whether they are safe, and the information listed in Article TBT.9(3) of the TCA and information under the Annexes on chemicals and motor vehicles to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement:
This Act provides a way for the UK to share non-food product safety information received from the European Commission with the ‘appropriate person‘ so that the information can be used for the protection of consumers and others.
Where a relevant authority, i.e. a Government Minister or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), receives non-food product safety information from the European Commission, they can disclose non-food product safety information received from the EU for a permitted purpose. The following are permitted purposes:
There is no restriction on who the information can be shared with, provided it is for the permitted purpose. In practice, it is expected that this information will be shared with public authorities, such as market surveillance authorities and the Crown Dependencies, as part of their inclusion in the TCA.
A person who receives non-food product safety information from the EU may only use the information for a permitted purpose and is not able to further disclose the information except with the consent of the relevant authority.
The Act also provides a way for a Government Minister or the HSE to share with the European Commission information which relates to non-food product safety for the purpose of the TCA. The TCA establishes contact points through which this information will be exchanged between the UK Government and the European Commission.
There are no direct compliance duties for organisations in this Act.
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