Under the law employers are responsible for health and safety management. The following provides a broad outline of how the law applies to employers. Don't forget,employees and the self employed have important responsibilities too.
It is an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees and other people who might be affected by their business. Employers must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this.
This means making sure that workers and others are protected from anything that may cause harm, effectively controlling any risks to injury or health that could arise in the workplace.
Employers have duties under health and safety law to assess risks in the workplace. Risk assessments should be carried out that address all risks that might cause harm in your workplace.
Employers must give you information about the risks in your workplace and how you are protected, also instruct and train you on how to deal with the risks.
Employers must consult employees on health and safety issues. Consultation must be either direct or through a safety representative that is either elected by the workforce or appointed by a trade union.
For more details on the basics of what employers must do to make their business comply with health and safety law in a low risk business , HSE has produced a booklet Health and safety made simple.
For more details on how health and safety law is meant to work, HSE has produced a booklet: Health and safety regulation: A short guide 
.
Employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations (HSIER) to display the approved poster in a prominent position in each workplace or to provide each worker with a copy of the approved leaflet Health and safety law: What you need to know that outlines British health and safety law.
If workers think their employer is exposing them to risks or is not carrying out their legal duties regards to health and safety, and if this has been pointed this out to them but no satisfactory response has been received, workers can make acomplaint to HSE.
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20 years ago, a soldier who got himself so sunburnt that he was unfit for duty, would have been charged with inflicting an injury on himself and "rendering himself unfit for duty", ie same as a WW1 'Blighty' wound if caught. Wonder whether this is still the case and how H&S regs apply to the forces now. and what about the guys we employ, provided we warn them of risks...do we have to supply unlimited factor 100. if we have to apply it as well, I might have to look at the gender of prospective employees...
HSE cannot issue improvement or prohibition notices on MOD or its Agencies as they are a crown body and exempt from enforcement action. However, HSE can issue crown enforcement notices on Crown Bodies. These are administrative notices which in practice have the same effect as improvement or prohibition notices, HSE cannot take prosecution action in a criminal court but HSE can take a Crown censure – an administrative sanction that is taken very seriously by Crown Bodies.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/armedforces/faqs.htm
John Baker said: