Health and safety in the workplace - glazing

Since 1975 the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) has required employers, the self-employed and certain people who have control over workplaces to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of anyone who may be affected by their work activities. So if glazing constitutes a risk, reasonably practicable measures need to be taken to deal with it.

The HSWA does not specifically mention glazing, but on 1 January 1993 the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 came into force to implement the EC Workplace Directive. Regulation 14 includes requirements for glazing which make explicit those that are implicit in the HSWA.

The regulations apply to a wide range of workplaces including factories, offices, shops, schools, hospitals, hotels and places of entertainment. They do not apply to domestic premises used for work, or to construction sites. They have applied to new workplaces from l January 1993, and to all workplaces from 1 January 1996.

The duty to comply with the regulations will usually fall to the employer. However, people other than employers may be duty-holders under the regulations if they have control of a workplace to any extent; examples are the owners and landlords of buildings used as workplaces. Depending upon the tenancy agreement — particularly of a multi-occupied building — the owner, as opposed to individual employers, may be the duty-holder responsible for complying with the requirements.

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