Hello Everyone

I had to ask because it's beginning to annoy me that i can't find it.

I am fully aware of the requirement to have written RAs if you employ 5 or more from reg 3 of MHSWR, but where is the requirement relating to 5 or more employees for a written H&S Policy in HASAWA? section 2(3) obviously mentions written Policy but not any specific number of employees....

Thanks :)

Well I never!

Thank you very much Kate, I have learned something today!

Kay

Kay "in which for the time being he employers fewer than five employees" was interpreted in Osborne v Bill Taylor of Huyton Ltd 1982 was that regard must be only to employees present on the premises at the same time.

So it is possible that an employer might either

(a) employ 4 on day shift and 4 on night shift or

(b) employ 4 at one site and 4 at another

....and be deemed to be excepted from the requirement, though I've never heard this argument from an employer, probably as they've never heard of the above judgment and they won't have a copy of Redgrave's Health and Safety or other source of case law.

David - as far as I'm aware it's the only judgment - and I didn't find it until AFTER I'd left HSE!!

That was in a High Court case about contravention of an improvement notice. The Court did decide that "for the time being" meant "at any one time", so if fewer than five were employed "at any one time" a written policy would not be required. However, the defendant had 30 odd betting shops (each with about 3 employees at any one time)! So the court then considered whether that involved a number of separate businesses or the one business in several sites? It ruled that it was just the one so a written Safety Policy was required. It would have put the cat among the pigeons if they’d decided the former though I suspect it (or a subsequent case) would have gone to the Court of Appeal.

I live in Jersey and here the Health and Safety At Work (Jersey) Law 1989 has the requirement in Article 4(3) "It shall be the duty of every employer employing 5 or more employees.....". As i understand it this Law was based loosely around the old Factories Act, so this may be where you can find the original source of where "5 or more employees" comes from in UK law.