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HEALTH & SAFETY Emma Lampka, Editorial Board Member, Health & Safety Adviser and Risk Assessment & Compliance |
Prevent Accidents and Protect Visitors with Effective Workplace Safety Measures
A 14-year-old boy suffered life-altering injuries at a London MOT centre when a car crushed him against a wall due to poor safety measures. The incident highlights the critical need for businesses to prioritise visitor safety. By conducting thorough risk assessments, installing physical barriers and raising employee awareness, companies can prevent similar tragedies. Read on to discover how safeguarding public safety protects lives, avoids fines and upholds your business reputation.
The Case
New Auto Tech Limited, London was fined £10,000, after a child was crushed and sustained multiple pelvis fractures and life-changing injuries at their MOT testing centre. The boy was waiting for an MOT to be completed, sitting in a chair which was situated in front of the brake rollers. The MOT technician was meant to reverse the car off the brake rollers but had put the car into drive instead, crushing the boy against the wall.
Although there was a designated viewing area to the side of the brake roller bay, this was merely a painted box on the floor with no physical barriers to provide protection or prevent people moving out of this area.
HSE Inspector Michelle Morphy said ‘….HSE will hold business accountable if they fail to protect both workers and members of the public…’.
New Auto Tech Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for its failure to ensure the health, safety and welfare of those not in its employ. Section 3 of the Act specifies a duty on employers and self-employed persons to ensure the safety of persons other than employees, which includes contractors, visitors, the general public and clients. They were fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,810.
How You Can Protect Visitors to Your Premises
To help prevent this type of incident in your business, follow these key steps:
1. Undertake a risk assessment: ensure that you undertake a robust, suitable and sufficient risk assessment. In this case, this should identify the hazards to members of the public, determine who may be harmed (members of the public), conduct and evaluate the risks, define the control measures you are going to put in place and review the risk assessment to ensure that it continues to cover all significant hazards. Always ensure that if members of the public visit your site, that they are considered in your risk assessment process.
2. Use physical control measures: prevent members of the public from coming into hazardous areas of the workplace. You can do this by placing physical barriers around the areas that pose a significant risk. Ensure that all physical barriers are maintained in good condition.
3. Display warning signs or posters: notify members of the public of the potential hazards and how to protect themselves and any family members who may be with them.
4. Raise employee awareness: ensure that your employees are also aware of these hazards and risks so that they can take action to remove the hazards or remove any member of the public who may be in a hazardous location. Providing your employees with health and safety training will increase their knowledge and sharing the findings of the risk assessment will raise their awareness of the potential hazards and associated risks within the workplace to help them protect themselves and others.
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PAYROLL Sarah Bradford, Editor-in-Chief, Pay & Benefits Adviser |
Understand the New Rules on Treatment of Double-cab Pickups
The ‘Is it a car or is it a van?’ debate took a further turn at the time of the Autumn budget with another U-turn and the announcement that the Government would not, as previously indicated, be introducing legislation to confirm the treatment of double-cab pickups with a payload of more than 1 tonne, as goods vehicles for benefit in kind and capital allowance purposes. Instead, new rules will apply from 1 April 2025.
From that date, the definitions of ‘car’ and ‘van’ for benefit in kind and capital allowances will no longer be aligned with those used for VAT purposes. Under the VAT rules, it is the payload which determines whether a double-cab pickup is a car or van.
The classification is important as where the vehicle is available for the employee’s private use, the tax charge will be generally be considerably less under the van benefit rules than under those applying for company cars.
Background
The controversy was ignited following the Court of Appeal decision in Payne & Ors (Coca Cola) v R & C Commrs EWA Civ 889, which found that first and second generation Volkswagen Kombi vans Vauxhall Vivaros were cars not vans and, in doing so, reversed the decision of the Upper Tribunal. The decision hinged on whether the vehicles were ‘primarily suited to the conveyance of goods or burden of any description’; this being the definition of a goods vehicle. A vehicle can only be a van if it is a goods vehicle.
The judges found the ‘primarily’ test not to be met. To pass this test, they must ‘first and foremost’ be suited to the carriage of goods or burden. While the vehicles were suitable for the carriage of goods and, on balance, more suitable for the carriage of goods, they were multi-purpose vehicles but not primarily so. Consequently, as they did not fall within the definition of a goods vehicle, they could not be a van.
Understand the New Approach
From 6 April 2025, a two-part test will apply to determine whether a vehicle is a goods vehicle.
Part 1: identify the construction of the vehicle in the relevant tax year.
Part 2: consider whether the construction is primarily suited for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description.
The test is applied for the tax year, not at the time of manufacture. Thus, if a vehicle has subsequently been modified, those modifications are taken into account in assessing its primary purpose for that tax year. When looking at modifications, consider whether these are temporary or permanent and whether they change the main function.
For example, adding extra seats may mean that a vehicle which was classified as a goods vehicle at the time of construction may no longer count as one.
If the vehicle is not a goods vehicle, it cannot be a van. Consequently, its payload is not relevant.
Under this revised test, HMRC expect that most double-cab vehicles will be classified as cars. This is clearly to their benefit as they will be taxed under the company car tax rules, rather than the more generous van benefit rules.
Transitional Rules
Employers who purchased or ordered double-cab pick-up vehicles before 6 April 2025 are able to rely on the previous tax treatment until 5 April 2029 or, if earlier, the date on which they dispose of the vehicle or the lease expires. Under that treatment, a double-cab vehicle with a payload or at least 1 tonne is accepted as being a van.