Health and Safety at Work Act

A UK Act of Parliament passed in 1974 to foster health and safety at work. This aims to prevent industrial injuries and diseases, and to avoid accidents by regulating matters such as the heating, lighting, and ventilation of workplaces, the provision and use of protective clothing, the fencing of machinery, training in safety procedures, and the safe holding and disposal of toxic, inflammable, explosive, or radio-active materials. While some breaches of safety procedures are deliberate, by employers wishing to save money or by workers aiming to decrease their effort or to increase their earnings, it is believed that more are caused by ignorance, and would be avoided by firms and workers who were fully informed of the dangers. The Health and Safety Commission set up under the Act works both by promoting knowledge of health-and-safety procedures and inspecting premises, and if necessary by instigating prosecutions of firms for neglect of proper procedures.

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA, HASWA or HASAWA) is a United Kingdom law enacted in 1974 that set basic principles which must be followed by both employees and employers to help ensure a safe working environment.

HASAWA was an act to make further provision for securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to health or safety in connection with the activities of persons at work, for controlling the keeping and use and preventing the unlawful acquisition, possession and use of dangerous substances, and for controlling certain emissions into the atmosphere and to make further provision with respect to the employment medical advisory service.