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Glossary

The following key terms are defined in section 2 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, or where indicated, in the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995. The definitions are reproduced here, sometimes in paraphrase, with commentary in italics where applicable.

Accident means an event that

1. causes any person to be harmed, or
2. in different circumstances, might have caused any person to be harmed.

The Act prescribes investigation, hazard management and reporting duties after an accident. It should be noted the definition in terms of the Act is broader than in common usage and includes "near misses" as well as events causing injury or illness.

All practicable steps: in relation to achieving any result in any circumstances, means all steps to achieve the result it is reasonably practicable to take in the circumstances, having regard to the:

1. nature and severity of the harm that may be suffered if the result is not achieved
2. current state of knowledge about the likelihood that such harm of that nature and severity will be suffered if the result is not achieved
3. current state of knowledge about the harm of that nature
4. current state of knowledge about the means available to achieve the result, and about the likely efficacy of each
5. availability and cost of each of those means.

A person required to take all practicable steps under the Act is required to take those steps only in respect of circumstances that the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, about.

This important term is discussed in ‘The extent of the duty’ on page 7.

At work: in relation to any person, means present, for gain or reward, in the person's place of work.

The definition depends on that for "place of work". It also raises the question of timing as to when a person is in their place of work, but not necessarily for gain or reward. Is for example an employee "at work" during their unpaid lunch break? The courts are likely to say yes if the purpose of their coming to work was for gain or reward, and their shift is continuing after the break. On the other hand a visit to a place of work for private purposes, and after the hours of work, is less likely to be construed as "at work".

Construction work is defined by Regulation 2 as:

1. any work in connection with the alteration, cleaning, construction, demolition, dismantling, erection, installation, maintenance, painting, removal, renewal, or repair, of -
   1. any building, chimney, edifice, erection, fence, structure, or wall, whether constructed wholly above or below, or partly above and partly below, ground level
   2. any aerodrome, cableway, canal, harbour works, motorway, railway, road, or tramway
   3. any thing having the purpose of drainage, flood control, irrigation, or river control
   4. any distribution system or network having the purpose of carrying electricity, gas, telecommunications, or water
   5. any aqueduct, bridge, culvert, dam, earthwork, pipeline, reclamation, reservoir, or viaduct
   6. any scaffolding, and
2. includes any work in connection with any excavation, preparatory work, or site preparation carried out for the purposes of any work referred to in paragraph (a) of this definition; and
3. includes any work referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this definition carried out underwater, including work on buoys, obstructions to navigation, rafts, ships, and wrecks; and
4. includes the use of any materials or plant for the purposes of any work referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of this definition, and
5. includes any inspection or other work carried out for the purposes of ascertaining whether any work referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of this definition should be carried out; but
6. does not include any work in any mine, quarry, or tunnel.

Contractor: a person engaged by any person (otherwise than as an employee) to do any work for gain or reward.

Employee: primarily a person employed by any other person to do any work (other than residential work) for hire or reward; and, in relation to any employer, means an employee of the employer.

There are some exceptions where, for example, volunteers, persons involved in job training or work experience, or loaned employees, are deemed to be employees for purposes of the Act.

Employer: primarily someone who or that employs any other person to do any work for hire or reward; and in relation to any employee, means an employer of the employee.

Again, there are some exceptions where, for example, volunteers, persons involved in job training or work experience, or loaned employees, are deemed to be employees for purposes of the Act.

Facility: includes amenity and equipment.

This definition is particularly relevant to the application of regulations made under the Act concerning the provision of facilities.

Fail: includes refuse; "failure" includes refusal.

Harm: illness, injury, or both and includes physical or mental harm caused by work-related stress; "to harm", "harmed" and "unharmed" have corresponding meanings.

See also, "serious harm", below.

Hazard: an activity, arrangement, circumstance, event, occurrence, phenomenon, process, situation, or substance (whether arising or caused within or outside a place of work) that is an actual or potential cause or source of harm; and includes

1. a situation where a person’s behaviour may be an actual or potential cause or source of harm to the person or another person and
2. without limitation, a situation where a person’s behaviour results from physical or mental fatigue, drugs, alcohol, traumatic shock, or another temporary condition that affects a person’s behaviour.

"Hazardous" has a corresponding meaning.

Home: means a place occupied as a dwelling house; and includes any garden, yard, garage, outhouse, or other appurtenance, of a home.

Machinery: means an engine, motor, or other appliance that provides mechanical energy derived from compressed air, the combustion of fuel, electricity, gas, gaseous products, steam, water, wind, or any other source; and includes -

1. any plant by or to which the motion of any machinery is transmitted
2. a lifting machine, a lifting vehicle, a machine whose motive power is wholly or partly generated by the human body, and a tractor.

This definition is particularly relevant to the application of regulations made under the Act and concerning machinery.

Notifiable work: is defined by Regulation 2 of the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995 as­:

1. any restricted work, as that term is defined in Regulation 2 (1) of the Asbestos Regulations 1999
2. any logging operation or tree-felling operation, being an operation that is undertaken for commercial purposes
3. any construction work of one or more of the following kinds:
   1. work in which a risk arises that any person may fall 5 metres or more, other than­
      • work in connection with a residential building up to and including 2 full storeys
      • work on overhead telecommunications lines and overhead electric power lines
      • work carried out from a ladder only
      • maintenance and repair work of a minor or routine nature;
   2. the erection or dismantling of scaffolding from which any person may fall 5 metres or more
   3. work using a lifting appliance where the appliance has to lift a mass of 500 kilograms or more a vertical distance of 5 metres or more, other than work using an excavator, a fork-lift, or a self-propelled mobile crane
   4. work in any pit, shaft, trench, or other excavation in which any person is required to work in a space more than 1.5 metres deep and having a depth greater than the horizontal width at the top
   5. work in any drive, excavation, or heading in which any person is required to work with a ground cover overhead
   6. work in any excavation in which any face has a vertical height of more than 5 metres and an average slope steeper than a ratio of 1 horizontal to 2 vertical
   7. work in which any explosive is used or in which any explosive is kept on the site for the purpose of being used
   8. work in which any person breathes air that is or has been compressed or a respiratory medium other than air.

Notification of hazardous work is defined by Regulation 26 of the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995, which requires that:

1. Every employer who intends to commence any notifiable work (or work that will at any time include notifiable work) shall take all practicable steps to lodge notice of that intention.
2. A notice required to be lodged under this regulation must­
   • be lodged at an office that deals with occupational safety and health matters, being the nearest such office of the Department to the place where the work is to be carried out
   • be in writing
   • be given at least 24 hours before the time at which the employer intends to commence the work and
   • contain the following particulars­:
     1. the nature and location of the work
     2. the name, address, and contact details of the employer
     3. the intended date of commencement of the work
     4. the estimated duration of the work.
3. It is not necessary for any employer to lodge notice before commencing any construction work or tree felling operation necessary to deal with an emergency arising from­:
   • damage caused by any earthquake, explosion, fire, flood, lightning, ram, slip, storm, or washout; or
   • the blockage or breakdown of any drain or sewer
   • the blockage or breakdown of any distribution system or network for electricity, gas, telecommunications, or water.

The duty to notify extends to “employers”, but “employer” is then broadly defined as any person who controls a place of work and so includes principals who control places of work.

Person: includes the Crown.

Person who controls a place of work: in relation to a place of work, means a person who is the:

1. owner, lessee, sublessee, occupier, or person in possession, of the place or any part of it
2. owner, lessee, sublessee, or bailee, of any plant in the place.

Place of work: a place (whether or not within or forming part of a building, structure, or vehicle) where a person is to work, is working, for the time being works, or customarily works, for gain or reward; and

In relation to an employee, includes a place, or part of a place, under the control of the employer (not being domestic accommodation provided for the employee), -

1. Where the employee comes or may come to eat, rest, or get first-aid or pay; or
2. Where the employee comes or may come as part of the employee's duties to report in or out, get instructions, or deliver goods or vehicles; or
3. Through which the employee may or must pass to reach a place of work.

Further, a person is defined as being in a place of work whenever and wherever the person performs work, including in a place that the person moves through or a place that itself moves.

It is clear from the definition of a place of work that it is not confined to fixed sites where people work but extends also to places where employees are “on the move” while working (for example, trucks and boats) or places through which employees must pass for work-related purposes (for example, bridges, passages, and other access points).

Plant: includes -

1. an appliance, equipment, fitting, furniture, implement, machine, machinery, tool, and vehicle
2. part of any plant, the controls of any plant, and any thing connected to any plant.

Because it begins with the word "includes”, this definition supplements the everyday meaning of the word `plant', and does not limit its terms.

Principal: a person who or that engages any person (otherwise than as an employee) to do any work for gain or reward.

This describes a contract for services under which the person performing the work is self-employed.

Residential work: in relation to the occupier of a home, means –

1. domestic work done or to be done in the home
2. work done or to be done in respect of the home,
   • by a person employed or engaged by the occupier solely to do work of one or both of those kinds in relation to the home.

Safe:

1. in relation to a person, means not exposed to any hazards
2. in every other case, means free from hazards; - and "unsafe" and "safety" have corresponding meanings.

Serious harm: death, or harm of a kind or description set out in the Schedule 1 of the Act, or declared by regulation to be "serious" for the purposes of this Act; "seriously harmed" has a corresponding meaning.

No regulations for this purpose have been passed to date and Schedule 1 applies.

Significant hazard: hazard that is an actual or potential cause or source of –

1. serious harm
2. harm (being harm that is more than trivial) the severity of whose effects on any person depend (entirely or among other things) on the extent or frequency of the person's exposure to the hazard
3. harm that does not usually occur, or usually is not easily detectable, until a significant time after exposure to the hazard.

"Significant hazard" is an important definition for determining the responses required by employers managing hazards under the duties of sections 7-10 of the Act. It is important to note the definition is considerably wider than just a cause of "serious harm". This has the effect of placing employers on notice that they need to identify and manage hazards with the potential for any harm that is not trivial. The harm might only occur after a long time. Likewise, the potential harm may vary in degree according to the intensity or duration of exposure to the hazard.

Subcontractor: a person engaged (otherwise than as an employee) by any contractor or subcontractor to do for gain or reward any work the contractor or subcontractor has been engaged (as contractor or subcontractor) to do.

The Act imposes the same duties on a subcontractor as a "contractor".

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