Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act

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 Before it became operative however it was repealed and replaced by the Offices, Shops and Railways Premises Act 1963.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. 

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. 

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... 

Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974, whilst the subordinate legislation includes a number of Acts, e.g. the Factories Act, and the Offices Shops and Railway Premises Act, which apply to specific types of workplace. 

Within the United Kingdom, the application of industrial occupational hygiene principles and the operation of defined safe systems of work in museums are both recent developments. Before the commencement of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act (HASAWA) in 1974, few museums were required to take notice of workplace safety legislation under either the Factories Act, 1964 or the Offices Shops and Railway Premises Act, 1963 and, in common with most types of educational establishment, the last decade has come as something of a shock. The past decade, especially the last few years, has seen some attempts directed at a rapid, and on occasion over-hasty, adoption of safer practices across a range of activities in museums, including research, conservation, visitor welfare and fieldwork—all areas in which health and safety should be prime considerations. 

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