Health & Safety Basics

The Health and Safety at Work Act covers all health and safety legislation. Put simply it sets the basic rules that must be followed. It applies to everyone, employers, employees and the self-employed. Under this Act it states it is the responsibility of everyone to work in a safe and healthy manner.

Every employee, while at work, has to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and of others (clients and other staff members) who may be affected by the employees’ actions or lack of actions. You need to know the person to report a risk or hazard to.

• A risk is when there is a potential of danger, i.e. when you are treating a client you may spill water on the floor if care is not taken.
• A hazard is when there is actual danger, i.e. the water is on the floor and people are likely to slip and fall.

Every employee must co-operate with their employer, with regards to health and safety legislation, to enable the employer to implement and maintain health and safety policies within the salon (this is a legal requirement).

There is a number of special regulations that come under the Health and Safety at work Act of 1974, a lot of the legal requirements that affects the employer, there are items of legislation that affect the employee as well. The following legislation affects you in the beauty industry.

• The Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulation
• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations
• The Provision and use of Work Equipment Regulations
• The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations (PPE)
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH)
• The Electricity at Work Regulations
• The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations
• The Health and Safety and First Aid Regulations and the reporting of accidents
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR)
• Fire Precautions Act
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)