Self-employed, legal duties

The main objective of risk assessment is to determine the measures required by the organization to comply with relevant health and safety legislation and, thereby, reduce the level of occupational injuries and ill-health. The purpose is to help the employer or self-employed person to determine the measures required to comply with their legal statutory duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or its associated Regulations. The risk assessment will need to cover all those who may be at risk, such as customers, contractors and members of the public. In the case of shared workplaces, an overall risk assessment may be needed in partnership with other employers. 

This Regulation places the duty to comply with the Regulations on employers, the self-employed, and mine managers and operators of quarries, for matters which are within their control. The Regulation was updated in 2000 to take account of the provisions of the Quarries Regulations 1999, which introduced quarry operators as legal entities. 

The requirement to conduct suitable and sufficient risk assessments placed upon employers is extended to self-employed persons, who have an absolute legal duty to assess the risks to their own health and other persons who may be affected by their work activities. 

A legal person with recognized responsibility, commitment and duties towards a worker in his or her employment by virtue of a mutually agreed relationship. (A self-employed person is regarded as being both an employer and a worker.)... 

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