Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

17.26.11
Protection against specifi ed hazards – 
Regulation 12
Exposure to health and safety risks from the following 
hazards must be prevented or adequately controlled:
➤
any article falling or being ejected from work 
equipment
➤
rupture or disintegration of work equipment
➤
work equipment catching fi re or overheating
➤
the unintended or premature discharge of any art-
icle, or of any gas, dust, liquid, vapour or other sub-
stance which is produced, used or stored in the work 
equipment
➤
the unintended or premature explosion of the work 
equipment or any article or substance produced, 
used or stored in it.
17.26.12
High or very low temperature – 
Regulation 13
Work equipment and any article or substance produced, 
used or stored in work equipment which is at a high or 
very low temperature must have protection to prevent 
injury by burn, scald or sear.
This does not cover risks such as from radiant heat 
or glare.
Engineering methods of control such as insulation, 
doors, temperature control, guards etc. should be used 
where practicable but, there are some cases, like cooker 
hot plates, where this is not possible.
17.26.13 Controls – Regulations 14 to 18
Where work equipment is provided with (Regulation 14):
➤
starting controls (including restarting after a stoppage)
➤
controls which change speed, pressure or other oper-
ating condition which would affect health and safety
it should not be possible to perform any operation 
except by a deliberate action on the control. This does 
not apply to the normal operating cycle of an automatic 
device.
Where appropriate, one or more readily accessible 
Stop controls
shall be provided to bring the work 
equipment to a safe condition in a safe manner (Regula-
tion 15). They must:
➤
bring the work equipment to a complete stop where 
necessary
➤
if necessary switch off all sources of energy after 
stopping the functioning of the equipment
➤
operate in priority to starting or operating controls.
Where appropriate one or more readily accessible