Legislation And Business

Businesses do not operate in vacuum. Their operations are greatly shaped by legislation and government regulations (Morris, 2008).  Just like businesses, agriculture farm businesses are required to comply with all the relevant legislation and regulations. Therefore, as the manager of a farm business, it is essential to ensure the farm operations are conduct within the confine of law.  Some of these legislation and regulations include Health and safety regulation, RIDDOR, COSHH, Employers liability insurance, plant health order 2015 and business licensing.   Health and safety Act 1974 Under this legislation, employers are required to protect their employees as well as any other person from harm that may be caused by their organizations operation.  This particular piece of law requires employers to have in place health and safety policy that must be well displayed for employees and other stakeholder to see. However, only employer with more than five employees should do so. On top of that, employers are also required to conduct regular risk assessment to ensure potential risks are identified and prevented (HSE, 2013; Parker, 2006). This legislation is so crucial in agriculture farming business.   In the farm business, there are several health and safety issues that arise from it operation.  Most of the farm input such as fertilizers, pesticides etc and some of the farm produce such as flowers and grain can cause diseases and illness such as dermatitis, asthma and other workplace-related diseases (Kay, 2011).  As the manager in charge of such as business, it is thus crucial to ensure risks assessment is conducted In order to identify all potential risks and put in necessary preventive measure as required by the law.   Some of the prevent measure that can be put in place include providing employees with protective gear, repair of equipment,  proper disposal of hazardous  substance and dangerous items/object, staff training (Parker, 2006). When employers fail to protect their employees properly,   occurrences of accident or incidences that cause harm or death to employees become health and safety offences under the Act which is punishable through imprisonment and fine. In addition, if the offences are proved to have occurred due to neglect of the manager, such individual may be prohibited from assuming managerial position again under Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Furthermore, when employees dies due to failure by an organization to put in risk protective measure, the manager and the business will be held liable for manslaughter under Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 where they can face unlimited fine (HSE 2016a). Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 The COSHH regulation aims to protect employees from hazardous substances.  Under this regulation employers are required to protect employees from hazardous substances at work (HSE 2016c). In the farm business, there are a number of substances used that qualify to be called hazardous substances. These include fertilizers, pesticides, flowers, etc.  When employees get exposed to such substances either through breathing in, skin contact, eye contact and swallowing, death or illness may occurs. For instance, direct exposure to pesticides can lead to death or illness (Kay, 2011). As the manager in charge, it is therefore important to ensure this legal requirement is complied with.  There are several things that the manager/employer should do to protect employees from these hazardous substance.  First of all, where possible, it is necessary to substitute all hazardous substances with less hazardous one.  Secondly, where it is impossible to replace hazardous substance, the managers should purchase protective gear such as glove, apron, helmet etc and ensure employees use them at all time when dealing with Hazardous substance. Thirdly, staffs should be trained on how to handle, use and store hazardous substance so as to avoid accident and incidences that may result from mishandling (Morris, 2008). Employers who fail to take reasonable care of protecting their employees from harm and death caused by hazardous substance commit an offence under health and safety Act 974 and can either face unlimited fine or imprisoned for period not exceeding two year or face both penalties They can also be held liable for manslaughter where unlimited fine can be imposed on them. It should also not be forget that employees can claim compensation from their employer for any work-related injuries or diseases (HSE, 2016b). Employers liability insurance Act 1969 In Britain, all the employers are responsible for the health and safety of their employees while at workplace.   Failure to protect the employees from harm, injuries and illness caused by organization operation can result to compensation claim from employees. In order to ensure   employers  will cover such claim, The  Employers liability insurance  Act 1969 require all employers to  purchase  employers liability insurance from authorised  insurer. The policy must cover at least £5 million. The policy also needs to be displayed in area where employees can be able to see. There are however some instance when a farm business may be exempted from the requirement of this law. One, an employers will be exempted from this requirement if they employ family members as their employees. Employers are also exempted if their employees are based abroad (Parker, 2006). As the farm manager, it is important to ensure that the business comply with this legal requirement.    An authorised insurer should be contacted to provide the employer liability policy to the farm.  The manager should   need to ensure that during budgeting,    enough money allocated toward payment of the insurance premium.    The policy should also be displayed in an area where all the farm employees are able to see it. Those businesses that meet the requirement for employers’ liability insurances but fail to comply with law definitely face legal requirement. They can be fine up to £ 2, 500 per day for failing to have proper insurance policy. In addition, Failure to display the Employer liability insurance as required by law can attract fine of up to £ 1,000 (HSE, 2016b; Parker, 2006)).  Reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrence regulation 2013 (RIDDOR) RIDDOR 2013 is a law that requires employers to report and keep record of work related accidences that result to death or serious injuries, diagnosed cases of industrial diseases and dangerous occurrences.  When one of the above incidences happens, employers are under legal obligation to report the incidences to the health and safety executive. However, there are exemption cases. Employers are not obligated to report a death or injury of employees that occurred out of medical or dental treatment or traffic accident (HSE, 2013). This particular piece of law is of great importance to the farm business.  In this business   some machinery used as well as some farm input such as pesticides, fertilizers etc   may causes caused accidences or lead to work related death and diseases. For instance, employee may be contact dermatitis from pesticide and other hazardous product used in the farm operation. Although the primary action that should be taken by employers is to prevent such incidences and accidents from happening, when they do happen, the farm manager should ensure they are recorded and reported to the Health and safety executive or other relevant body as required by the law. The Manager can report these cases either by contacting Health and safety executive directly through telephone or they can download and fill in a reporting form available to health and safety executive website and later sent it to them. A file also needs to be open where all work-related incidences and accidences are recorded and stored. Any organization that fails to comply with RIDDOR requirement can face serious legal consequences which mainly constitute unlimited Fine (HSE, 2016b) Plant health (England) order 2015 In order to curb the spread of pest and diseases that can destroy plant in UK,  the government through the pest health control 2015, control and restrict transportation/movement and importation of certain plants, seeds, organic matter and plant product such as potatoes, flowers, fruits and foliage. Some plant, seed organic matter and plant product are totally prohibited in UK and any farm business must not attempt to import them into the country. On the other hand, there are those that are highly controlled and as such, certification is required before one is allowed to import them.  Another requirement of this legislation is that when moving plants within EU, a plant passport must be granted (Defra, 2015). In the farm business, this legislation is of great essence and must be taken into account when planning to import or transport plants seeds and plant products in and Within UK.  As a manager of farm business, it is important when planning to import any plants, seed or plant products into UK, to ensure that the products being imported is not prohibited. Only certified plants, seeds, plant produces and organic matter should be imported.   In additional, the managers also need to ensure that a plant passport is issued to their business before they transport their plants, seeds and plant products with European Union region.  Failure to do so can attract serious consequences including fine and imprisonment.      In conclusion, better management of any business requires compliance with the relevant legislation and regulation.  The business managers should take the proactive role of researching and understanding the relevant legislation and regulations and then organize their businesses accordance to the necessary legal requirement.