Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

1.9.1 Absolute 
duty
This is the highest level of duty and, often, occurs 
when the risk of injury is so high that injury is inevitable 
unless safety precautions are taken. It is a rare require-
ment regarding physical safeguards, although it was 
more common before 1992 when certain sections of the 
Factories Act 1961 were still in force. No assessment of 
risk is required but the duty is absolute and the employer 
has no choice but to undertake the duty. The verbs used 
in the Regulations are ‘must’ and ‘shall’.
An example of this is Regulation 11(1) of the Provision 
and Use of Work Equipment Regulations concerning 
contact with a rotating stock bar which projects beyond 
a headstock of a lathe. Although this duty is absolute, it 
may still be defended using, for example, the argument 
that ‘all reasonable precautions and all due diligence’ were 
taken. This particular defence is limited to certain health 
and safety regulations such as The Electricity at Work 
Regulations and The Control of Substances Hazardous to 
Health Regulations.

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Introduction to Health and Safety at Work
8
Many of the health and safety management require-
ments contained in health and safety law place an 
absolute duty on the employer. The need for written safety 
policies and risk assessments when employee numbers 
rise above a basic threshold are examples of this.
1.9.2 Practicable
This level of duty is more often used than the absolute 
duty as far as the provision of safeguards is concerned 
and, in many ways, has the same effect.
A duty that ‘the employer ensure, so far as is 
practicable, that any control measure is maintained in 
an effi cient state’ means that if the duty is technically 
possible or feasible then it must be done irrespective of 
any diffi culty, inconvenience or cost. Examples of this 
duty may be found in the Provision and Use of Work 
Equipment Regulations (Regulation 11(2) (a and b)) and 
the Control of Lead at Work Regulations where Regulation 
8 states, ‘Every employer who provides any control 
measure … shall ensure, so far as is practicable, that it is 
maintained in an effi cient state … in good repair …’.