From HASAW act 1974

4General duties of persons concerned with premises to persons other than their employees.

(1)This section has effect for imposing on persons duties in relation to those who—

(a)are not their employees; but

(b)use non-domestic premises made available to them as a place of work or as a place where they may use plant or substances provided for their use there,

and applies to premises so made available and other non-domestic premises used in connection with them.

(2)It shall be the duty of each person who has, to any extent, control of premises to which this section applies or of the means of access thereto or egress therefrom or of any plant or substance in such premises to take such measures as it is reasonable for a person in his position to take to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the premises, all means of access thereto or egress therefrom available for use by persons using the premises, and any plant or substance in the premises or, as the case may be, provided for use there, is or are safe and without risks to health.

(3)Where a person has, by virtue of any contract or tenancy, an obligation of any extent in relation to—

(a)the maintenance or repair of any premises to which this section applies or any means of access thereto or egress therefrom; or

(b)the safety of or the absence of risks to health arising from plant or substances in any such premises;

that person shall be treated, for the purposes of subsection (2) above, as being a person who has control of the matters to which his obligation extends.

(4)Any reference in this section to a person having control of any premises or matter is a reference to a person having control of the premises or matter in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade, business or other undertaking (whether for profit or not).

If Bob is working Monday - Saturday and coming in on Sunday someone should be looking at the Working Time Directive

Alan

I would not be particularly concerned, subject to some provisos.

1. Should you be concerned that his working (or not "working") these additional hours means that "Bob" is at increased risk due to fatigue?

- the evidence of increased accident rates due to fatigue is limited except in "low probability, high consequence" environments.

2. Is he doing tasks that you would consider to be too dangerous to be done by a lone worker on a normal working day?

- in particular is the lack of someone present to raise the alarm if the event of any accident a significant issue?

3. Does "Bob" doing his own thing present any risks to the business?

4. If what he is doing constitutes "self-employment", then you might want to consider asking "Bob" to take out insurances, particularly for any public liability.

- imagine that "Bob" makes and sells some product that is unsafe for the customer. You do not want the injured party chasing you rather than "Bob".

P

It is a sad state of affairs, but I have to agree that the potential consequences of this could be serious. I think the HSE would take a dim view of it, and in our litigation culture, there could be civil action should something go badly wrong. It is worth bearing in mind that, contrary to popular belief about the litigation culture in the USA, it is actually easier to sue your employer in the UK.