A. The basis of British Health and Safety law is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

This Act sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and each other. These duties are qualified in the Act by the principle of 'so far as is reasonably practicable'. In other words, an employer does not have to take measures to avoid or reduce the risk if they are technically impossible or if the time, trouble or cost of the measures would be grossly disproportionate to the risk.

What the law requires here is what good management and common sense would lead employers to do anyway, that is: to look at what the risks are and take sensible measures to tackle them.

The Personal protective Equipment at Work regulations 1992

These regulations include the following:

Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to all his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health and safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more cost effective.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

These regulations generally make more explicit the role of employers in managing health & safety under the 1974 Act. Like the Act they apply to every work activity. The main requirement on employers is to carry out a risk assessment. Employers with five or more employees need to record the significant findings of the risk assessment.