Environment Fire Safety Law - Assignment Example

Environment Fire Safety Law Name: Institution: Course Title: Tutor: Date: Environment Fire Safety Law Introduction It has become openly known that long term human development is tied to how well human conserve their environment. On the other hand, environmental response if not well treated can be catastrophic and unforgiving. To offer a balance to environmental utilization and management, major environmental legislation utilizes two important EIA tools (Abdullah, 2007, p.2-6). The first relates to environment impact assessment report/ plan or environmental action plan. The second tool is trough the use of environmental audit reports. These tools are able to analyze the probable impact of a project on economic, social, political and environmental aspects of human lives (Mitchell, 2009, p.25). The environmental audit program ensures a guaranteed continual improvement on environmental management. In addition, countries have to advance other programs in relation to quality, safety, health and environmental management systems that cover aspects such as what must be done in compliance with environmental laws within that industry. One probable hazard at work place is fire. In order to mitigate this kind of hazard, there is need for proper environmental laws and occupation, safety and health regulation. The main aim of constituting these pieces of legislation is to ensure the safety of workers at their workplace, other occupants, public and environment at large. These acts cover areas such as safety regulations, inspection, enforcement & compliance, compensation and lastly employee and employer responsibilities. This report advances a presentation for a self-employed furniture restorer in United Kingdom who has no previous law experience in the same country. The business is based at an industrial unit, with parking for the company’s delivery van and staff parking. Processes carried out at the unit include spray painting, varnishing, lacquering and upholstery. The report, presents five key pieces of legislation that the business needs to be aware of. These include three environmental laws, one fire and one health and safety law. In addition, the report covers the provisions of these legislations. Moreover, other factors such as the regulator, potential sanctions for non-compliance and what the business needs to do to ensure compliance are analysed. Environmental legislations Britain has close to 287 laws relating to environment. Most of these legislations are geared towards protecting the environment and not creating a red tape towards human utilization of environment (Stratton, 2011). According to UKELA (2012), Environment is broadly defined to mean air water and land. The chief environmental protection agencies in United Kingdom are Environment Agency which covers England and Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland and Local Authorities. Moreover, UKELA (2012) notes that the initial attempts to control as a result of industrial revolution were carried out trough Akali Acts in the 19th century. In addition, UKELA (2012) observes that since UK joined European community in 1972, most of the European Union legislations have increasingly shaped domestic laws. Apart from the European Union, some UK environmental laws are built on the basis of international conventions and agreements. The principle overriding piece of legislation that relates to environmental utilization and management in relation to industrial operations is the Pollution Prevention and Control Act of 1999. This act advances procedures of regulating industries which emit sizeable level of pollution to all environmental media (air land and water). Under this legal formulation, local authorities are entrenched with the obligations to regulate smaller industries. These industries in this act are defined as Part A2 and Part B. This act obliges these firms to disclose their energy efficiency and to control against noise pollution. This is attained through the legal mandate of Local Authority Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control procedures (HMSO, The National Archive- Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999). Closely related to the above Act is the Environment Act of 1995. This act has given regulatory bodies like the Environment Agency which covers England and Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland and Local Authorities the legal power to implement various sections of the act. The act gives these authorities to ensure that most developers adhere to set standards by approving and circulating plans to relevant lead agencies in order to ensure safety and harmonious development. Most of these function and powers are outlined in the first part of the act. These agencies regulate large industries which are known as Part A1 installations through integrated pollution prevention and control procedures. The other section that touches on business of furniture restorer is part four on air quality and its subsequent sections (HMSO, The National Archive- Environmental Act 1995). The other piece of legislation that relates to environmental utilization is the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 chapter 43. The act is formulated into nine parts with each addressing unique component of environment. The first part covers aspects of pollution control ad air pollution control. The second part deals with waste on land and contaminated sites. The third legislates on statutory nuisance and clean air. The subsequent parts covers litter, radioactive substances, genetically modified organisms, nature conservation in Great Britain and Countryside matters in Wales, miscellaneous and general aspects. There are numerous parts of this act that touches on the business of furniture restorer. This is because the furniture restorer through spraying can pollute the air, through upholstery he emits solid wastes these wastes can be either recyclable or non recyclable. In addition these wastes can lead to contamination of sites. Thus, the initial five parts are applicable to this business (HMSO, The National Archive- Environmental Protection Act 1990). Occupation, Safety and Health legislation Safety of any given occupant in a furniture restorer is important. Plants such as furniture restorer normally engage with highly inflammable products. These products include upholstery material like mattresses and varnish. Apart from these, these plants normal have high voltage machines that if not well maintained can cause damage and loss of lives either through electrical faults, short circuiting or electrocution. Moreover, these machines and equipments have blades which can incapacitate the employee if not handled with care. The need for Occupation, Safety and Health (OSHA) measures is thus, important for such settings. The safety of occupants of a given industrial plant, business premise and warehouse is important. In addition, the safety of surrounding installations is important. This is because a mishap in one installation can be catastrophic for the neighbouring developments. These catastrophic acts include fire and obnoxious smell. The safety concern here is for the employees, customers/clients and the general public. The main piece of legislation that governs all aspects of occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom is the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974. The act is based on the premise of risk reduction and control measures. The authority that is discharged with enforcing the bits of this legislation is the Health and Safety Executive. This body derives its authority from the same act. Apart from the above, the executive is discharged with the authority of enforcing a number of other acts and statutory instruments relevant to the working environment (HMSO, The National Archive- Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974). This act has lead to enactment of various regulations to the act the much needed strength. Most of these were ratified in 1992 and 2002. They include the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (replaced by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (SI 1999 No. 3242), the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 (PUWER) (replaced by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (SI 1998 No. 2306) and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No. 3004) among others (eprints.nottingham.ac.uk). In order to achieve the intended purpose, the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 is divided into four parts. The first part deals with health, safety and welfare in connection with work, and control of dangerous substances and certain emissions into the atmosphere. This first part is particularly relevant to this mode of business under contention as it cover general duties. This first part covers sections like general duties of employers to their employees, duties of employers to other non employees, codes of practice, enforcement by inspectors among others. In addition it is in this section that establishment and function of the Health and Safety Executive is discussed. The second part deals with the employment Medical advisory services. The third important bit of this legislation is about building regulations, and amendment of building Act of 1959 0f Scotland. This act recognises the importance of proper design and outlay of work stations in order to guarantee safety. The critical factor in this act is about enforcement and remedies possible in given scenarios (HMSO, The National Archive- Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974). Fire law Fire safety legislation has been mutated over time. Initially UK used to have numerous Acts and legislations that governed the issues of fire and safety. However, in 2006 this trend changed and the regulations were consolidated in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 which came into effect in October 2006 and replaced over 70 pieces of fire safety law. This act is mainly applicable in Wales and England. In addition, the greatest reform that this paradigm shift brought was the entrenching of responsibility of fire safety within workplace to employers. In fact, just like Health and Safety Act the onus to demonstrate that one did everything reasonably practicable to prevent injury lies with the employer. In event of failure, then the employer is liable for the harm caused. Moreover, the regulation applies to all non domestic premises. The onus that is bestowed upon the employer includes the responsibility to prevent fire spread. The second is the duty to maintain Building Regulation standards for the use and protection of the fire service. The lastly entail an obligation to appoint one or more employees to assist in ensuring compliance with the regulations (Communities and Local Government, 2010). Conclusion With the emergence of the sustainable development concept in the early 1970s and the realization that human development is pegged on how well they conserve their environment, the business operation framework has also shifted (Ortas and Moneva, 2011, p.17). Globally, there is the realization that firms can not only base their performance on profits recouped alone (Geraghty, 2010, p.141). Ethical approaches to doing business have over the years gained a paramount position. Moreover, the environment perspective of sustainability has been a case for reaction. Sustainability calls for utilization of earth resources with the future generation in consideration. Sustainable development thus, focuses on creating a balance between human economic need, social need and environmental need (Hubbard, 2011, p.824 and 825). On the other hand, built environment and industrial plants are not devoid of hazards and hence there is need to develop proactive measures to curtail these probable hazards as a result of human activities. Thus, there is call for individual initiative and government regulations to ensure that humans utilize their environment if appropriate manner to ensure long term sustainability and safety of employees and public in their areas of operation through implementation of OSHA and QSHE policies. References Abdullah, A. M. 2007, Introduction to environmental management systems. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit UTM Communities and Local Government 2010, Fire and emergencies: fire safety law and guidance documents for business. Retrieved on 10th February 2011 from: http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/firesafety/firesafetylaw/ Geraghty, L. 2010, Sustainability reporting - measure to manage, manage to change. Keeping Good Companies, No. 3. Pp 141-145. HMSO, the National Archive. Environmental Act 1995. Retrieved on 10th February 2012 from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/25/contents HMSO, the National Archive. Environmental Protection Act 1990. Retrieved on 10th February 2012 from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/contents HMSO, the National Archive. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Retrieved on 10th February 2012 from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents HMSO, the National Archive. Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999. Retrieved on 10th February 2012 from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/24/contents Hubbard, G. 2011, The quality of sustainability reports of large international companies: an analysis. International Journal of Management, Vol. 28, No. 3, part 2. Mitchell, R. B. 2009, International politics and the environment. London: Sage publishers Ortas, E. and Moneva, J. M. 2011, Origins and development of sustainability reporting: analysis of the Latin America context. GCG, Vol. 5. No. 2. ISSN: 1988-7116, pp: 16-37 Stratton, A. (2011, April, 17). Environmental campaigners angry as green laws labelled red tape. The Guardian. Retrieved on 10th February 2012 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/17/environment-green-laws-red-tape UKELA. 2012, Making the law work for a better environment. Retrieved on 10th February 2012 from: http://www.ukela.org/rte.asp?id=14 Read More