Your Rights to a Secure Working Environment

Every worker has a right to a secure working environment. Employers should identify any threat to this security and introduce measures that eliminate or control the risks.

The Legal Position

The right for workers to have a secure working environment is enshrined in the law. The basis of this law is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Act contains a set of duties that employers should have towards staff and the general public. The Act also says that employees have duties to each other and themselves.

What this means is that employers and workers must both keep working environments secure. They must look at risks and take action to deal with them.

Qualification

The right to a secure working environment comes with a qualification, however. This states that a principle of reasonable practicality governs all health and safety duties.

A proposal to create a secure working environment may be impractical to put in place, for example. Or the cost of a proposal may far outweigh any benefit. If this type of situation applies, an employer may reasonably refuse to take action.

Speak to Employer

Under the law, employers and employees have a duty to maintain a secure working environment. An employee who spots a health and safety problem at work should therefore speak to his or her employer first. An employer may choose to ignore a concern raised by a member of staff. When this happens, there are further options to consider.

Trade Unions

One role of Trade Unions is to monitor health and safety at work. If there are problems, trade union representatives can act on behalf of workers and ask employers to provide solutions.

This does not mean that workers must join a trade union to ensure a secure working environment, as the law requires employers to follow health and safety procedure. Trade unions, however, can help to ensure workplace safety.

HSE

An employer may unreasonably refuse to make a workplace secure. There may also be no trade union in the workplace to assist. If so, a worker can turn to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

HSE is responsible for the following types of workplace:

• Nuclear installations
• Government premises
• Nursing homes, hospitals, colleges and schools
• Offshore installations
• Building sites and factories
• Utility systems such as electricity, water and gas
• Fairgrounds, farms and mines

Environmental Health

Another organisation that may be able to help is the local authority environmental health department. These have responsibility for investigating health and safety problems at:

• Hotels, restaurants and leisure premises
• Shops and offices
• Care homes and sheltered accommodation
• Clubs and pubs
• Private museums
• Playgroups and nurseries
• Places of worship

Members of the Public

It is not just employees who may encounter problems with working environments. Members of the public may believe that a working area is unsafe. They may identify dangers to employees or to visitors.

In the first instance, a member of the public with health and safety concerns should contact the employer. If this fails, the next step is to contact HSE or the local authority environmental health department as appropriate.