Offices, Shops and Railway Premises

THE OFFICES. SHOPS AND RAILWAY PREMISES (HOISTS AND LIFTS) Regulations 1968 Regulation 6 FACTORIES ACT 1961 - Sections 22. 2. and 25 FORM PRESCRIBED FOR THE REPORT OF EXAMINATION OF HOIST OR LIFT... 

These regulations tidy up a number of existing requirements already in place under other regulations such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Factories Act 1961 and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963. 

The early health and safety laws, the Factories Act 1961 (FA) and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 (OSRP), were aimed at correcting identified wrongs and tended to be very prescriptive in their content (i.e. they laid down how the wrong was to be corrected) and restrictive in their field by applying only to the particular operation, process or premises defined in the Act. Very few of the regulations made under these Acts are still in effect. 

Workmen s Compensation Act - extended to all wage earners within certain wage limits A further consolidating Factories Act The last consolidating Factories Act The Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act UK became a Member State of the European Economic Community and subject to EEC directives The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act The Single European Act... 

A series of Regulations incorporating the requirements of EEC directives into UK law, repealing considerable portions of the Factories Act 1961, the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 and revoking some associated Regulations... 

Prior to 1974 the main health and safety Acts were the Factories Act 1961 and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963. Both these Acts applied only in the premises defined in them. Similarly, any subordinate legislation made under either of them applied only in the premises covered by the main Act. However, legislation made since the coming into effect of the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 now covers all employment except domestic service. 

In 1949 the Gower Committee report made recommendations about the health, welfare and safety of employed persons outside the protections of existing legislation. In 1960 an Offices Act was passed. Before it became operative however it was repealed and replaced by the Offices, Shops and Railways Premises Act 1963. This adopted much of the structural content of the Factories Act 1961 but not the regulations, which apply only to factories. 

The requirements for the construction, maintenance and examination of lifts, similar to those in the Factories Act 1961, are detailed in the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises (Hoists and Lifts) Regulations 1968. 

No specific requirements in respect of fire, fire prevention, or fire precautions are contained in the HSW Act although under section 78 the Fire Precautions Act 1971 was extended to include places of work. This Act took over the fire clauses of the Factories Act, and Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act, and introduced the requirement for a fire certificate rather than a means-of-escape certificate. 

A number of Orders were made under the FPA which rationalised the requirements of section 6, contents of a fire certificate. Three of these were the Fire Precautions (Factories, Offices, Shops and Railway Premises) Order 1976 which applied to medium and large factories, offices and shops, the Fire Precautions (Hotels and Boarding Houses) Order 1972 ° and the Fire Precautions (Non-certificated Factory, Office, Shop and Railway Premises) Order 1976 which removed the requirement for a fire certificate from smaller industrial premises/offices. In a Regulation made under the HSW Act, the Fire Certificates (Special Premises) Regulations 1976 , the responsibility for the issue of a fire certificate for certain high risk premises was transferred from the fire authority to the HSE. 

Fire Precautions (Non-Certificated Factory, Office, Shop and Railway Premises) Order 1976, HMSO, London (1976)... 

Fire Precautions (Factories, Offices, Shops and Railway Premises) Order 1976 547... 

Examples here include the Factories Act, 1961, and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act, 1963. 

Further detail is offered in a Code of Practice on Safety Representatives and Safety Committees. The Faaories Act 1961 (sects. 138,139) and the Information for Employees Regulations, 1965 (made under the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act) detailed information which employers should provide for employees. 

An open-ended question asking what health and safety laws respondents had to observe revealed that the HSW Act, 1974, was generally known about. Thirty per cent (36/121) referred spontaneously to the HSW Act, 1974, and when prompted, an additional 54 per cent (65/121) said that they had heard of this Act. The Factories Act and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act were respectively mentioned by just 5 per cent (6/121) of those answering this question. Only 3 per cent (4/121) of respondents were unable to cite any legislation. Many of the responses were vague, such as the following ... 

The Factories Act 1961 and The Office Shops and Railway Premises Act of 1963, while still partly remaining on the Statute Book, for most practical health and safety work can be ignored. However, strangely, the notification to the authorities of premises which come within the definition of these two acts are carried out on Form 9 for factories. Form 10 for construction and OSR 1 for office shop and railway premises. 

Examples include the Agriculture (Safety, Health and Welfare Provisions) Act 1956, The Mines and Quarries Act 1954, The Offices Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 and The Nuclear Installations Act 1965. 

Previous legal requirements, such as those under the Factories Act 1961 and Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 laid down prescriptive or minimum standards on, for instance, the minimum temperature in a workplace, the total number of wash hand basins required according to the number of employees, or the specific safety features of a scaffold. There was no dear-cut duty to actually manage their health and safety activities, however. Moreover, many of these pre-1993 duties are qualified by the term so far as is reasonably practicable, implying a balance between the cost of sacrifice involved on the one hand and the risk to people on the other. On this basis, an employer did not necessarily have to comply if it could be proved to a court that compliance was not reasonably practicable. 

The prindpal objective of a safe place strategy is that of bringing about a reduction in the objective danger to people at work. These strategies feature in much of the occupational health and safety legislation that has been enad-ed over the last century, such as the Factories Acts 1937 and 1961 (FA) the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 (OSRPA) the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 and, more recently, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act... 

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