In this article I will look at four legislative factors, legal factors and regulatory bodies that influence health and safety in sport. I will be looking at the Health and Safety at Work Act(HSWA) 1974, Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 2002 and the Workplace(Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
The aims of UK Sport are to encourage as many people as possible to participate in sporting activities and to lead the best UK athletes to sporting excellence. These aims, however, must be achieved within a safe and healthy environment. Although no activity can be made completely risk free, high levels of injury to participants, spectators and the public are not and should not be considered to be an inevitable consequence of sport. Each sport
Each sport is represented by an NGB that defines the way in which the sport operates through its affiliated clubs and societies. Employed and voluntary workers within National Governing Bodies, clubs and societies therefore accept a responsibility to take reasonable steps to identify and control the risks associated with the sport. These responsibilities, however, do not extend to providing an absolute guarantee to all participants, spectators and members of the public that accidents or injuries will not occur. Most activities will always involve a certain level of risk, even when the risks have been identified and all reasonable precautions have been implemented. National Governing Bodies must, however, be able to demonstrate that they have identified these risks and provided adequate guidance to associated clubs and societies on how to assess and control the risks in order to meet their legal obligations.
Statute law (legislation) and judicial precedent (common law or case law) produce regulations; these are the two main sources for these. Common law or case law includes all law other than statutory provisions. Common law means law that has been made by judges in their decisions. These decisions are said to have become
Statute law means laws and regulations put in place by the government. There is extensive legislation and it is constantly being updated, especially in leisure and recreation, where facilities, events and activities are becoming more sophisticated. Legislation primarily comes from Acts of Parliament, such as the HSWA. Such legislation is designed to regulate the behaviour of organisations and individuals and representatives of the government, mainly the police, enforce laws. The courts, magistrates and crown courts impose penalties on those found to have criminal liability, such as fines and imprisonment.
A number of statutory instruments relate closely to the HSWA. These are put forward by the Health and Safety Commission following discussions with relevant organisations representing the industry, such as governing bodies of sport and local authorities. These take the form of regulations such as the COSHH and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. Guidelines and codes of conduct often produced by specialists and governing bodies of sport also play a major role in providing a healthy, safe and secure environment by determining
The Health and Safety Commission is responsible for health and safety regulation in Great Britain. The Health and Safety Executive and local government are the enforcing authorities who work in support of the Commission. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a United Kingdom public body. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland. Responsibility in Northern Ireland lies with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland. The HSE was created by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. As part of its work HSE investigates industrial accidents, small and large. Though it formerly reported to the Health and Safety Commission, on 1 April 2008, the two bodies merged.
Under these regulations, accidents or dangerous incidents, which happen in the work place, must be reported. For example if someone falls it must be recorded whether or not there was an injury.
Employers must have procedure in place for when accidents happen. There should be a standardised form for all of the work place.
The Notification of accidents and injuries.
If an individual sustains an injury, under the Woolf Reforms of 1999 he or she has up to three years to issue a claim against another individual or organisation (the defendant) who may have been negligent in causing the injury. The defendants then has 21 days to acknowledge receipt of the claim and a further 90 days which to either accept or deny liability and, in the case of a denial, produce supporting documentation and evidence. Failure to observe these time scales could give insurers an opportunity to limit or even deny indemnity, which, of course, could have serious consequences for the defendant. All those involved in sport are now required to report to their insurance brokers every incident, particularly those involving a personal injury, which could give rise to any future claim. One of the reasons for this is to ensure there is documentation about all incidents and that all necessary information can be produced quickly.
It is therefore good practice for club coaches to record details of any injuries to participants and to complete the appropriate forms. This will help maintain accurate records as well as provide a history of injuries and accidents that may shape future policy and practice, or refine techniques of coaching. I have attached an example of an incident report form that could be used. The attached form was taken from
As an employer, a person who is self-employed, or someone in control of work premises, you have legal duties under RIDDOR that require you to report and record work related accidents by the quickest means possible. Obviously deaths must be reported as it is the most serious accident, major injuries must also be reported. If there is an accident connected with work and your employee or a customer suffers an injury and is taken to hospital from the site then it classes as a major injury. Examples include fractures (not including fingers, toes or thumbs), amputation, major dislocations like shoulder or spine or hip, temporary or permanent loss of sight, major burns either chemical or hot metal, injury resulting from electric shock and any other injury leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconsciousness.
There are no specific requirements to report accidents or injuries caused by sporting activities. However, a death or serious injury to a member of the public or an employee at a sports ground or a sporting activity must be reported to the appropriate enforcing authority under the general requirements of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995. Whilst there is a legal requirement to report injuries at work that result from acts of violence, RIDDOR specifically excludes sports injuries of this type if taking part in the sport implies that participants accept a level of violence and risk of injury. This situation applies to contact sports such as boxing and rugby provided that the injuries result from activities that are in compliance with the laws of the sport.
Any reportable injury must be kept record of, as should any reportable disease or dangerous occurrence. This must include the date and method of reporting, time and place of the event, personal details of those involved and a brief description of the nature of the event. Records can be kept in a number of ways, these include keeping copies of report forms in files, recording details on a computer, using your accident book entry or maintaining a written log. The incident can also be reported by telephone, by contacting the ICC. The ICC stands for the Incident Contact Centre, which is a
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH)
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA)
The main aim of this act is to make management, owners and employees aware of the importance of health and safety. The HSWA is the main piece of legislation we have been looking at as it is the most relevant to us. The main objectives of the HSWA are to make sure all people involved in an organisation are aware of the following factors. Managers, owners and employees must secure the health, safety and welfare of people at work. They must also protect people other than those at work like participants against risks to health and safety arising from the activities of people at work. Also they must control the handling of dangerous substances and control the emission into the atmosphere of noxious or offensive substances from the premises.
It is the responsibility of the employer, as long as it is possible, to keep an eye on health, safety and welfare of the people who work for the organisation as well as customers and the public who are on the premises. It is the main duties of the employers to do the following:
-To provide and maintain plant, equipment and systems of work which are safe and not a risk to health.
-To provide safe storage, handling and use of substances that could cause risks to health.
-To provide appropriate information, instruction and training for employees in regard to health and safety.
-To make certain the workplace is monitored and maintained in a safe condition.
Under the Health and Safety at work act the employee also has responsibilities to help ensure the health and safety of others. Employees must:
-Take reasonable care of their own health and safety
-Take reasonable care of the health and safety of others who may be affected by their actions
-Co-operate with the employer and other relevant organisations to ensure that the requirements of the act are met
-Not misuse equipment provided to maintain health and safety
Health and safety law is enforced by inspectors that can be hired by the health and safety executive or by the local authority or fire service. An example of health and safety inspectors is a fire officer; they enforce fire safety law and produce risk assessments for large events.
Local authority environmental health officers undertake inspections of premises such as leisure centres. These people may visit your place of work and legally enter the premises at any reasonable time in the day to inspect its health and safety precautions. They can also measure, test, inspect and photograph as they wish anywhere in the premises and take samples, equipment or substances. If the inspectors see that health and safety regulations are not being enforced, they can serve a prohibition notice, stopping an activity likely to cause serious injury or serve an improvement notice, requiring action to be taken to remedy faults within a named period, not less than 21 days. They can also prosecute any person disobeying a statutory provision.
The health and safety at work act also requires that an organisation has a safety committee, appoints safety representatives and devises a policy statement containing the following information:
-The organisations commitment to health and safety and welfare at work
-The hierarchy within the organisation
-The names of those responsible for health and safety
-All relevant codes of practice and advice covering the particular functions carried out at the premise, which includes emergency first aid.
An example of where health and safety is paramount in sport would be a large sporting event held at a stadium. The stadium
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR)’s National Governing Body and their associated clubs and societies are legally responsible for ensuring that procedures are developed that will eliminate or minimise the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors on athletes, spectators and the public during all forms of sporting activity. ‘s and regulations in sport which aid participants, teachers, coaches, trainers etc in their understanding for playing sports without injury to themselves or others. Apart from these there are basic health and safety precautions that cab be undertaken to ensure safety. These include wearing the suitable clothing, warming up and cooling down prior to and after exercise, having a qualified coach or teacher around who understands current health and safety law and also ensuring the environment is safe to perform the sport in.’embodied in precedent’. When judges are deciding on new cases, they must take into account previous precedents in the same area of law. Cases are normally heard in County and High Courts, where individuals (the plaintiffs) bring action against another party (the defendant) to claim damages for losses incurred. The most common law duty for providers of sport and leisure in terms of health and safety is the duty of care. For employers, this means they have to take reasonable care to protect their employees from the risk of foreseeable injury or death at work. – among other things – standards and approved practice. These codes of practice are not legislation, but are developed by experts in their field and hence are often referred to in court when plaintiffs take civil action. ‘s manager must ensure that his employees are safe; competitors on the pitch are safe and also the large amount of spectators. Safeguarding the safety and wellbeing of spectators visiting sports grounds, whether for sporting occasions or other events like pop concerts, is governed by the provisions of the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987. Large complex buildings used for major sports events and with a capacity of 10,000 or more spectators, require a Safety Certificate under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975. Smaller sports grounds, with covered stands and a capacity of 500 or more spectators, also require a Safety Certificate under the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987.www.adamsonconstruction.com. ‘one-stop’ reporting service for work-related health and safety incidents in the UK. It was established on the 1st of April 2001 and is primarily a call centre, open from Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 5:00pm. The responsible person, which is usually the employer or the person in control of the premises, must repot all incidents and keep appropriate records. The ICC consultant will then ask them a few questions and take down appropriate details. Their report will then be passed on to the relevant enforcing authority. A copy of the report will then be sent back to them which can be recorded in files; this then meets RIDDOR’s requirements to keep record of all reported incidents. ‘t do any of these things it is considered an offence under the HSWA 1974. Clear systems of work are required after the identification of any risks in handling substances. Approved and recommended precautions that prevent exposure should be followed. Using chemicals or other hazardous substances at work can put people’s health at risk, so the law requires employers to control exposure to hazardous substances to prevent ill health. They have to protect both employees and others who may be exposed by complying with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. COSHH is a useful tool of good management, which sets eight basic measures those employers, and sometimes employees, must take. If you as an employer fail to adequately control hazardous substances, your employees or others may become ill. Effects from hazardous substances range from mild eye irritation to chronic lung disease or, on occasions, death.’s health and safety are not guaranteed to work. With this is mind it shows that it is very important as the equipment used must always be in perfect condition to make sure peoples health and safety in a sporting or working environment is kept well. ‘s court. If statutory laws are broken then the person breaking them is liable to be arrested by the police, while this is not always the case for anyone breaking civil laws.’s failure to take the proper measures to protect them. This would result in the company being prosecuted as they are breaking a statutory law by neglecting the regulations and then may face further action by the victim as they may sue the company for injuring them, this being a civil law. A further example could be a leisure centre manager failing to train his staff to properly clean and maintain safety of their gym equipment. A customer could then injure themselves from a falling machine, weight, slipping on wet floor, or any other accident relating to negligence. This would result in the leisure centre manger being prosecuted by the crown court for ignoring the rules and also the victim may sue them for any hospital bills and other expenses.
There are always substances that can be hazardous to health. These include chemicals for cleaning and disinfecting, for treating water or for marking out grass pitches. Employers are required to do the following to ensure the health and safety of others:
-Acquire and pass on information about the harmful substances
-Asses risks to health associated with the handling, disposing and usage of all harmful chemicals. This should also include substances that employees might come into contact with or when hazardous gases may be inhaled.
-Remove or control the health risks by use of approved personal and procedures
-Monitor the effectiveness of ant measures taken
If you don
A swimming pool, for example, contains different chemicals like chlorine. Under COSHH regulations, a pool manager must ensure that bacteriological testing is carried out regularly. In public leisure centres, such tests would be the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive, while in private leisure centres the responsibility often falls on the Environmental Health Officer, who will take random bacteriological tests. Other hazards that may occur within a leisure centre in relation to COSHH include cleaning chemicals used on gym equipment and also chlorine again but in the spa as well as the pool.
Compare and Contrast
The entire legal legislative factors that I have looked over are completely different to one another. This shows that there are many areas in a sporting environment or any place of work that need to be carefully considered and evaluated to see factors that need to be taken into consideration to make a work place as safe as possible for people so that they are working in a safe environment.
The second legislative factor that I researched was RIDDOR, which is the reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations act. This legislative factor links in well with my first, the management of health and safety at work regulations 1999 as, with RIDDOR any injuries or close happenings that occur are marked down, and then the health and safety regulations can help to sort out whatever the hazard was that caused any harm or risk to an individual. At the same time they are two contrasting legislative factors their objectives are dissimilar to each other but as I said they can be linked together to resolve problems and prevent them in the workplace.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 known as COSSH can only be compared with the other legislative factors if any of them have any connection with substances hazardous to health. For example, it can link into RIDDOR due to the fact that if someone was to become ill because of a substance in a swimming pool such as chlorine then COSSH would be the legislative factor that would be used to repair it.
One difference between the legislative factors is that the Health and Safety at Work Act, is designed to make people aware of risks and hazards before they occur, whereas RIDDOR is designed to improve standards after an incident has occurred. COSSH also states standards in which substances should be controlled before such an incident could occur. I believe, obviously, that companies should have sufficient standards, so that it is very rare that any reporting of injuries is needed. Therefore a weakness of the RIDDOR act is that it can only prevent accidents and injuries from happening after they have occurred, which is too late.
One legislative factor that I did not research was the Personal Protective Equipment regulations (PPE). It can be seen as the most different legislative factor to the others as this is only used if all other methods to people
There are also differences between the health and safety laws, including statutory, case and civil law. A statutory law differs from civil law as it deals with more severe breaking of the rules, for example theft, murder, drug use. However, civil law deals with the civil rights of members of the community, by these I mean circumstances such as divorce and suing a company or person. A statutory law is also dealt with by higher authorities like the crown court, whereas civil law matters will almost definitely be dealt with by the magistrate
Companies who do not follow the appropriate health and safety regulations may find a person becoming injured because of the company’s failure to take the proper measures to protect them. This would result in the company being prosecuted as they are breaking a statutory law by neglecting the regulations and then may face further action by the victim as they may sue the company for injuring them, this being a civil law. A further example could be a leisure centre manager failing to train his staff to properly clean and maintain safety of their gym equipment. A customer could then injure themselves from a falling machine, weight, slipping on wet floor, or any other accident relating to negligence. This would result in the leisure centre manger being prosecuted by the crown court for ignoring the rules and also the victim may sue them for any hospital bills and other expenses.
