The Basics

Key Environmental H&S Legislations

Why it is important to study these legislations

In the United Kingdom, the Rule of Law is a fundamental constitutional principle enshrined in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 which ensures that the country is governed by law rather than the arbitrary exercise of power.

Widely considered the definitive modern explanation, former Senior Law Lord Tom Bingham outlined eight conditions for a society governed by the rule of law:

1. Accessibility: Law must be accessible, clear, and predictable.

2. Law over Discretion: Legal rights and liabilities should be resolved by applying law, not through administrative discretion.

3. Equality Before the Law: Laws apply equally to all, except where objective differences justify otherwise.

4. Exercise of Power: Public officials must use their powers in good faith, fairly, and for the purpose they were granted.

5. Human Rights: The law must afford adequate protection for fundamental rights.

6. Dispute Resolution: Accessible means (at reasonable cost and speed) must exist to resolve civil disputes.

7. Fair Trial: Procedures provided by the state for resolving disputes must be fair.

8. International Law: The state must comply with its international legal obligations.

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 with its accompanying 1992 suite of regulations, six pack, is the original legal duties placed on employers.

The Equality Act 2010 gives everyone the same chances to do what they can. In the workplace, The Act places duties on employer to provide extra help to get disabled employee to get the same chances as everyone else.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 is the latest regulation placing specific duties on all stakeholders working in a building environment.

The Data Protection Act 2018 gives individual the right to protect personal data. The Act places duties to those who have day-to-day responsibility for data protection.

The Environmental Act 2021 makes provision to improve the natural environment by centralising various environmental protection into a single legislation, setting legally binding targets for air quality, biodiversity, water, and waste reduction, and creating the independent Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) to hold the government accountable, alongside introducing measures for plastic packaging tax, deposit return schemes, Extended Producer Responsibility, and local nature recovery strategies.

The Building Safety Act 2022 makes ground-breaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers, and protections – so homes across the country are safe.

The Laws Explained

From the highest level of legal obligation down to advisory

21st‑Century Developments: Modern Risks and Changing Priorities

The legal framework continues to evolve, with growing emphasis on:

Mental health and stress management as part of occupational safety
Stronger enforcement and more inspections
Updated guidance and frameworks by the HSE responding to new societal and workplace hazards

Recent years (2024–2025) have seen updates focusing on fire safety, manual handling, PPE improvements, and occupational ill‑health.

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Six Pack Regulations

In January 1992, six regulations on Health and Safety at Work were introduced. Most of the requirements of these Regulations were not new, they simply spelled out in more detail what a responsible employer should already have been doing to comply with the requirements of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.

The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations
Manual Handling Operations Regulations
Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Regulations
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations
Provision and use of Work Equipment Regulations
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Regulations

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

Remember - the requirements of CDM 2015 apply whether or not the project is notifiable.

If a client fails to appoint either the principal designer or principal contractor, then the client must carry out their duties.

The client has the main duty for providing pre-construction information. They must provide this information as soon as practicable to each:

designer (including the principal designer): and
contractor (including the principal contractor).

Pre-construction information is defined as information about the project that is already in the client’s possession or which is reasonably obtainable by or on behalf of the client.

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations. It sets out the different ways in which it’s unlawful to treat someone. Before the Act came into force there were several pieces of legislation to cover discrimination, including:

Sex Discrimination Act 1975
Race Relations Act 1976
Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Equality Act provisions which came into force on 1 October 2010:

the basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions, premi, work, education, associations and transport
changing the definition of gender reassignment, by removing the requirement for medical supervision
providing protection for people discriminated against because they are perceived to have, or are associated with someone who has, a protected characteristic
clearer protection for breastfeeding mothers
applying a uniform definition of indirect discrimination to all protected characteristics
harmonising provisions allowing voluntary positive action

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The Data Protection Act 2018

The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Everyone responsible for using personal data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’. They must make sure the information is:

used fairly, lawfully and transparently
used for specified, explicit purposes
used in a way that is adequate, relevant and limited to only what is necessary
accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
kept for no longer than is necessary
handled in a way that ensures appropriate security, including protection against unlawful or unauthorised processing, access, loss, destruction or damage

Personal data

The GDPR applies to ‘personal data’ meaning any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in particular by reference to an identifier.
This definition provides for a wide range of personal identifiers to constitute personal data, including name, identification number, location data or online identifier, reflecting changes in technology and the way organisations collect information about people.
The GDPR applies to both automated personal data and to manual filing systems where personal data are accessible according to specific criteria. This could include chronologically ordered sets of manual records containing personal data.
Personal data that has been pseudonymised – eg key-coded – can fall within the scope of the GDPR depending on how difficult it is to attribute the pseudonym to a particular individual.

Six lawful bases

Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)

You must now inform people upfront about your lawful basis for processing their personal data. You need therefore to communicate this information to individuals by 25 May 2018, and ensure that you include it in all future privacy notices.

Surveillance Camera Commissioner

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Guiding Principles

Use of a surveillance camera system must always be for a specified purpose which is in pursuit of a legitimate aim and necessary to meet an identified pressing need.
The use of a surveillance camera system must take into account its effect on individuals and their privacy, with regular reviews to ensure its use remains justified.
There must be as much transparency in the use of a surveillance camera system as possible, including a published contact point for access to information and complaints.
There must be clear responsibility and accountability for all surveillance camera system activities including images and information collected, held and used.
Clear rules, policies and procedures must be in place before a surveillance camera system is used, and these must be communicated to all who need to comply with them.
No more images and information should be stored than that which is strictly required for the stated purpose of a surveillance camera system, and such images and information should be deleted once their purposes have been discharged.
Access to retained images and information should be restricted and there must be clearly defined rules on who can gain access and for what purpose such access is granted; the disclosure of images and information should only take place when it is necessary for such a purpose or for law enforcement purposes.
Surveillance camera system operators should consider any approved operational, technical and competency standards relevant to a system and its purpose and work to meet and maintain those standards.
Surveillance camera system images and information should be subject to appropriate security measures to safeguard against unauthorised access and use.
There should be effective review and audit mechanisms to ensure legal requirements, policies and standards are complied with in practice, and regular reports should be published.
When the use of a surveillance camera system is in pursuit of a legitimate aim, and there is a pressing need for its use, it should then be used in the most effective way to support public safety and law enforcement with the aim of processing images and information of evidential value.
Any information used to support a surveillance camera system which compares against a reference database for matching purposes should be accurate and kept up to date.