Your Rights at Work: Everything You Need to Know About Starting a Job, Time off, Pay, Problems at Work - and Much More! (Tuc Guide) by Trades Union Congress (TUC)

Author:Trades Union Congress (TUC) [Unknown]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kogan Page
Published: 2016-06-02T22:00:00+00:00

Special hazards

In addition to these general rights and responsibilities there are many detailed rules and regulations about particular hazards that will affect different workplaces or occupations, such as offshore oil or quarrying. These cover issues such as handling particular chemicals, working with particular machinery, noise at work, or risk of electric shock. Normally there is a duty to display these regulations or make them available. Although they are often in rather heavy legal language and usually presented in extremely dull small print, it is worth studying them.

Some of the areas covered by specific legislation (or where legislation is being considered) are:

Back strain: The Manual Handling Regulations cover most hazards to the back, including heavy lifting (although there are no maximum weights), and the Display Screen Equipment Regulations cover back problems caused by visual display units (VDUs).

Stress: The general duties of employers to care for their employees and to assess risks apply, and the HSE has developed standards on managing stress at work (see pages 129–31 for more on stress).

Repetitive strain injury (RSI): The Display Screen Equipment Regulations cover using VDUs, and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations cover the need to assess risks (including RSI).

Noise: If you are exposed to more than 80 decibels (dB) at work, your employer should be reducing the noise levels or at least giving you protection – the Noise at Work Regulations cover the issue.

Asbestos: Exposure to asbestos kills more people than any other work-related hazard. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 set out your employer’s duties.

Temperature: Minimum legal temperatures are set out in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations, but regarding maximum temperatures there is guidance only.

Asthma: Workplace exposure to chemicals that cause asthma is covered by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations, and the HSE has appended an Approved Code of Practice on asthma itself to the COSHH Regulations.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.