If you’re a business owner or employer on Alderney, understanding this piece of legislation is crucial for ensuring a safe and compliant workplace. The law sets out the responsibilities and duties of employers, employees, and others to prevent accidents and health issues at work.
Legal documents can often be boring and difficult to understand, especially when they’re about health and safety regulations! That’s why in this post I will break down the Health and Safety at Work (Alderney) Ordinance, 2003 into plain English, making it easily understandable, regardless of your legal expertise!
Whether you’re setting up a new business, managing an existing one, or just doing some research, this post will go through everything you need to know about your health and safety obligations in Alderney.
A Summary of The Health and Safety at Work (Alderney) Ordinance, 2003
The Health and Safety at Work (Alderney) Ordinance, 2003, establishes a framework for ensuring the health and safety of employees and others affected by workplace activities. Here’s a quick summary of what this law means for businesses in Alderney:
Key Points of the Ordinance:
- General Duties: Employers have significant responsibilities towards their employees, including ensuring a safe work environment, providing adequate training, and maintaining equipment safety. These duties extend to protecting non-employees and managing premises and emissions to avoid harm.
- Employee Responsibilities: Employees must also adhere to safety guidelines, properly use safety equipment, and report hazards.
- Codes of Practice: The Policy and Finance Committee may approve codes of practice to provide practical guidance on meeting health and safety standards.
- Enforcement: Inspectors are appointed to enforce health and safety standards, equipped with powers to enter premises, investigate, take samples, and issue notices for improvements or to prohibit certain activities if they pose serious risks.
- Offences and Penalties: The ordinance outlines various offences, including failure to comply with duties, obstruction of inspectors, misuse of information, and more, with corresponding penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment in severe cases.
- Appeals and Notices: There are provisions for appealing against decisions made under the ordinance, such as the issuance or revocation of licenses, and specific requirements for serving notices.
- Civil Liability: Breaches of duties under the ordinance that cause harm can lead to legal action.
- Exclusions: The law does not apply to domestic employment within private households.
- Regulatory Powers: The Committee has the power to make regulations on various aspects of workplace health and safety, including policy statements, notification of diseases, and definitions of dangerous substances.
Implications for Businesses:
Businesses on Alderney must adhere to the provisions of this ordinance to ensure compliance with the law and the safety of individuals affected by their operations. This includes:
- Implementing and maintaining robust health and safety policies and procedures.
- Ensuring all employees are adequately trained and informed about their safety responsibilities.
- Regularly inspecting and maintaining premises and equipment to prevent accidents and health risks.
- Following approved codes of practice and adjusting operations as necessary to meet legal standards.
- Preparing for inspections and cooperating with inspectors, including compliance with improvement and prohibition notices.
- Being aware of the legal consequences of non-compliance, including potential fines and imprisonment for serious breaches.
In the next part on the post, I will break down each section of the ordinance and explain what it actually means for businesses. If you need help with any aspect of health and safety, feel free to get in touch by clicking the button below..
PART I – GENERAL DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS, EMPLOYEES, AND OTHERS
1. General duties of employers to their employees
Employers have a huge role in safeguarding their employees’ health and safety at work. This involves creating a safe work environment, ensuring that all machinery and equipment are safe to use, and providing adequate safety training. It’s about proactively managing risks to prevent accidents and health issues before they occur, ensuring that every employee can work in a place where their safety is a priority.
2. General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their employees
This section extends the responsibility of employers and self-employed individuals to also protect the safety and health of people who are not their employees but may be affected by their work activities. This includes clients, visitors, or the general public who could be on or near their premises. The goal is to ensure that business operations do not pose a risk to anyone in the wider community.
3. General duties of persons concerned with premises to persons other than their employees
If you manage or control work premises, you must ensure that these spaces are safe not just for your employees but for everyone who might use them. This duty covers regular maintenance, safety checks, and addressing potential hazards to prevent accidents. It highlights the importance of keeping all spaces within the work environment safe and secure for any visitor or person who might be on the premises for any reason.
4. General duty of persons in control of certain premises in relation to harmful emissions into the atmosphere
This responsibility focuses on the environmental impact of work activities, specifically the duty to minimise harmful emissions. If your business operations involve the release of pollutants or other harmful substances into the air, it’s important to control and reduce these emissions. This section wouldn’t really apply to many of the businesses in Alderney currently.
5. General duties of manufacturers etc. as regards articles and substances for use at work
Manufacturers, suppliers, and designers have a responsibility to ensure that any products, equipment, or substances intended for use at work are safe. This includes conducting proper testing, providing clear instructions for safe use, and warning of any potential risks. Again, due to the lack of manufacturing in Alderney, this wouldn’t apply to many businesses currently.
6. General duties of employees at work
Employees also play a key role in maintaining a safe work environment. This involves following the safety training they’ve received, adhering to workplace safety rules, and using equipment properly. Employees are encouraged to contribute to a culture of safety, including reporting hazards and potential risks.
7. Duty not to interfere with or misuse things provided pursuant to certain provisions
Safety measures, equipment, and protocols are in place for a reason. This section makes it clear that everyone at the workplace must respect and correctly use these resources. Interfering with or misusing safety equipment, signs, or procedures not only compromises your safety but also that of your colleagues.
8. Duty not to charge employees for things done or provided pursuant to certain specific requirements
Employers cannot pass on the cost of safety measures, equipment, PPE, or training to their employees. This ensures that all employees have equal access to safety equipment and training without financial restrictions.
9. Notification and reporting of injuries, diseases, and dangerous occurrences
When injuries, diseases, or near-miss incidents occur at work, they must be reported. This allows for a proper investigation into what happened and why, with the aim of preventing future incidents. It’s a important part of learning from mistakes and continuously improving workplace safety.
10. Records
Keeping detailed records of any reported injuries, diseases, or dangerous occurrences is required. These records help track the effectiveness of safety measures, identify patterns that could indicate underlying issues, and ensure that lessons are learned and applied to prevent future incidents.
11. Restrictions as to the application of section 9
This section outlines specific conditions and limitations regarding the notification and reporting requirements. It clarifies when and how incidents should be reported.
12. Power of the Committee to direct investigations
The Policy and Finance Committee has the authority to order investigations into workplace incidents or practices that may be unsafe. This power ensures that there is oversight and accountability, with the ability to thoroughly investigate and address any concerns about health and safety in the workplace.
PART II – APPROVED CODES OF PRACTICE
13. Approval of codes of practice by the Committee
The Policy and Finance Committee may approve various codes of practice – these are essentially handbooks that offer practical advice on how to meet health and safety standards. These codes can be drafted by the Committee itself or others for its approval. In reality this hasn’t happened, instead they rely on Guernsey and UK ACoP’s such as the Guernsey Construction (Design and Management) 2020.
14. Use of the approved codes of practice in criminal proceedings
If a business didn’t follow the advice in these approved codes of practice and ended up in court, not following a code doesn’t automatically mean you’re in trouble. However, if the case is about a health and safety rule that a code covers, the court will look at whether the code was followed or not. A business needs to either follow the codes of practice or use another safety management system that matches or exceeds the code of practice. In an ideal world all businesses would follow ACoP’s.
PART III – ENFORCEMENT, ETC.
15. Appointment of inspectors
The Committee has the authority to appoint qualified individuals as inspectors to enforce the relevant health and safety laws. These inspectors are equipped with official documentation of their appointment, which they may need to produce when exercising their powers. They can come from various backgrounds, including the Guernsey public service. The Guernsey HSE are the current health and safety regulators in Alderney.
16. Powers of inspectors
Inspectors have the power to visit workplaces at reasonable times or anytime if they believe there’s a danger. They can enter premises to inspect, investigate, take measurements, photos, and samples, and even bring police officers if they expect serious obstruction. Their goal is to check compliance with health and safety laws, investigate potential risks, and gather evidence for possible legal actions. They also have the authority to question people and require the production of relevant documents to aid their investigations.
17. Provisions as to samples
When inspectors take samples for analysis, they must inform a responsible person on the premises and divide the sample into parts for various purposes, including analysis, comparison, and evidence in legal proceedings. This ensures transparency and accountability in the inspection process.
18. Improvement notices
If an inspector finds that health and safety laws are being broken, or there’s a risk of this happening again, they can issue an improvement notice. This notice details the violations and demands that the issues be fixed within a specified timeframe.
19. Prohibition notices
When an activity poses a serious injury risk, inspectors can issue prohibition notices to immediately halt the activity. These notices are issued if the inspector believes that continuing the activity could result in serious harm, detailing the reasons and requiring that the risks be addressed before the activity can resume.
20. Provisions supplementary to section 18 and section 19
These sections detail additional guidelines regarding improvement and prohibition notices, including how they can be appealed or modified. It ensures that there are clear procedures for dealing with disputes over notices and provides a mechanism for their enforcement or amendment.
21. Appeal against improvement or prohibition notice
Individuals can appeal against improvement or prohibition notices within 28 days of receiving them. The appeal process involves presenting the case to a court.
22. Power to deal with cause of imminent danger
Inspectors have the authority to seize and render harmless any article or substance that poses an imminent danger or serious personal injury. This provision means that inspectors can take immediate action to prevent harm in urgent situations.
23. Obtaining of information by the Committee
The Policy and Finance Committee can require individuals to provide information necessary for enforcing health and safety laws.
24. Restrictions on disclosure of information
This section outlines the rules for handling sensitive information obtained during inspections or investigations. It emphasises the importance of confidentiality and legal protections, allowing for the disclosure of information under specific circumstances to ensure public safety and compliance with the law.
PART IV – PROVISIONS AS TO OFFENCES
26. Offences due to fault of other person
Sometimes, a person might break a health and safety rule because someone else didn’t do what they were supposed to. In these cases, the law says that the person who didn’t follow through with their responsibility can also be considered at fault and charged with the offence.
27. Offences by bodies corporate
When a company breaks a health and safety law, it’s not just the business that can get in trouble. If a high-ranking person within the company, like a director or manager, helped the offence happen or didn’t do enough to stop it, they can be charged and punished just like the company. This rule also applies to members of a company if it’s managed by its members, treating them as if they were directors.
28. Onus of proving limits of what is practicable etc.
If someone is accused of not doing something they were supposed to for health and safety, the law says it’s up to them to show that it wasn’t possible to do more than they did. They need to prove that they did everything reasonable or that no better way existed to meet the requirement.
29. Power of Court to order cause of offence to be remedied
If someone is found guilty of breaking a health and safety law, the court can do more than just fine or punish them. The court can also order them to fix whatever caused the offence in the first place. This means they have to take specific steps, within a certain time, to make things right. If they’re given extra time to fix the issue, they won’t be in trouble for the same problem as long as they’re working on it during that extended period.
PART V – MISCELLANEOUS AND GENERAL
Appeals in connection with licensing provisions in the relevant statutory provisions
This section outlines the process for appealing decisions made by the Committee regarding licensing. If a business feels aggrieved by a licensing decision—whether it’s a refusal, conditional issuance, variation, or revocation—they have the right to appeal to the Court.
Service of notices
The ordinance specifies how notices required or authorised by the law should be served, ensuring clear communication between the Committee, businesses, and individuals. It details methods for delivering notices and identifies who within an organisation should receive them.
Civil liability
This section addresses the legal consequences of breaching health and safety duties. It states that such breaches, when causing damage, are actionable, meaning affected parties can seek compensation through legal channels, it also voids any attempt to contract out of this liability.
Exclusion of application to domestic employment
The ordinance clarifies that its provisions do not apply to domestic servants employed in private households. This exclusion acknowledges the distinct nature of domestic employment, which differs significantly from other workplace environments in terms of risks and regulatory needs.
Interpretation
This section provides definitions for various terms used throughout the ordinance. This includes what constitutes ‘work,’ ‘premises,’ ‘inspector,’ and others.
Power to make regulations
The Committee has the power to make further regulations as necessary to fulfil the objectives of the ordinance. This includes developing policies, specifying diseases to be notified, and determining testing methods, among others.
Extent
Simply put, this ordinance applies to only Alderney.
Citation and commencement
Finally, the ordinance is officially named and its effective date is stated, marking the point from which the provisions apply and must be complied with by businesses and individuals on the island. It came into force on the 01st January 2004.
Schedules:
- Schedule 1 details requirements for record-keeping, ensuring that businesses maintain accurate documentation of health and safety matters.
- Schedule 2 lists dangerous occurrences that must be reported, providing clear criteria for what constitutes a reportable incident under the ordinance.
I hope this post has helped you to understand the Health and Safety at Work (Alderney) Ordinance, 2003. You can find the full version on Guernsey legal resources HERE. If you need any assistance with making sure your business complies with health and safety law and ensuring your employees are safe at work. GET IN TOUCH today.
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