Factors Affecting Health & Safety in Sport

On this page I will be describing 4 different legislative factors that influence health and safety within sport. On each one I will tell you what it is, how the act prevents dangers and also I will give different examples within sports to give you a better image of how these legislative factors help prevent dangers within sport. The 4 legislative factors that I will talk about are:

1. Health and Safety at Work Act (1974)
2. Personal protective equipment (PPE 2002)
3. COSHH 2002
4. Health and Safety First Aid (1981)

Health and Safety at Work Act (1974)

What is the health and safety at work act (1974)?

This act is actually a really easy to understand legislation because simple thanks to this legislation employers, premiss's staff, employees and so on have different duties that they must at all times stick to. Each of the duties covers different areas. In the health and safety at work act (1974) there are four different parts.


Part I: This part was mainly made for the general duties such as the HSC and HSE which takes care of the major incidents. This part also general duties such as having the power to create codes of practices, penalties and enforcements.


Part II: This part is about the employment medical advisory service. Thanks to this duty employees and trainees are given relevant information and advice on health and safety at work. 

Part III: The third part talks about the actual building regulations which are aspects such as a safe design, fire safety, sounds insulation, easy access etc.


Part IV: This part covers other general duties that employers at the work place have for example doing safety checks around the venue to check if all fire extinguishers are in place just in case of a fire, if all the fire exits are usable, if there is no litter that could make someone fall over, if the floor is dried after cleaning so that no one can slip, if first aid kits are accessible around the venue just in case of any incidents and many more duties that will prevent any dangers at the work place. 


This act prevents dangers really well because in this act as you can see above there are different parts to it which covers different areas of safety not only safety in one general place but in different aspects which makes this act really well organised which means that health and safety is achieved thanks to this act. For example if there was going to be a match at the venue and the employers knew that there are going to be many people coming to the venue that day, the employers would start to use the health and safety at work act here straight away because they would want to create the safest environment as possible for the people coming to the venue. For example if the floor was wet near the entrance of the venue and it was quite possible that someone could seriously get injured by slipping on the wet floor. To prevent this from happening the employers would use safety cones to show that the floor is wet in that place and then when people see this sign they would avoid it and no one would get hurt. Also the staff that work there would need to do a safety check to see if all the fire exits are accessible and if all the fire extinguishers are available because if there was a fire everyone would have to be evacuated properly and the fire would have to be put down by the correct equipment. Thanks to the Health and Safety at work act (1974) people are in a safe environment where all the dangers are eliminated when they are at a sports centre or a venue.

Personal protective equipment (PPE 2002)

What is the Personal protective equipment (PPE 2002) legislation?

The personal protective equipment (PPE 2002) legislation has been made so that every single work place no matter if its a small venue or a big sports centre must have the correct equipment (worn or held or applied). This act prevents from people at work being under any risk while they are working at that place. 

PPE Equipment such as: appropriate safe footwear, hard hats, high visibility waistcoats, goggles, life jackets, respirators and safety harnesses.

PPE at work regulation act is the most important aspect because this act says that protective equipment should be given to the employers where ever there is a chance of risk to your health and safety. This is because risks can occur everywhere if at a big venue there is a session going on that is canoeing in a deep swimming pool then everyone should be issues harnesses because if you fall into the water and you cant swim the danger here is that you could end up drowning. However, thanks to this act no one would be allowed in the water without a harness because that would be to dangerous and it could be a potential health and safety risk. This means that if for example the person leading the session allowed a participant in the water without a harness and something happened to that participant, the personal leading the session (qualified coach) could get sued for what he has allowed to happen. 

How PPE affects the sporting environment?

I think that PPE affects the sporting environment so much. Many people don't see the importance of this however, in my opinion it is such an important legislation. This is because personal protective equipment is used in every single sport you can think of. Rugby, football, basketball, cricket, boxing, rock climbing, swimming, canoeing and many other sports. For example in rugby the most important equipment you need is your gum shield/mouth guard. Usually when you play rugby and your coach is going to start training he will do a gum shield check to see if every has their's. If someone doesn't have a gum shield during rugby training you wont be allowed to play. This is because the gum shield is specially designed to go in your mouth and protect the inside of your mouth most importantly your teeth from getting damaged. Also in sports such as rock climbing you need many different equipment such as helmets, ropes, harnesses, appropriate clothing. Imagine going rock climbing without a harness it would be unimaginably dangerous because if you fell that would be it, you would fall. However, thanks to this act you MUST have the appropriate safety equipment to eliminate any of the risks around you and to make the activity/sport as much fun and safe as possible.

COSHH 2002

What is COSHH 2002?
COSHH stands for Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. Just from looking at the name of this legislation we can straight away tell what its purpose is. You might of not noticed but usually we are surrounded by many substances that are hazardous to our health however, if they are used correctly they wont be hazardous. This legislation makes the employers control different substances that are hazardous to our health. When I say hazardous to our health I mean it some substances could even possible lead to death which is a serious issue. 


How could you prevent this from happening?

There are many ways in which you could prevent these things from happening for example:

• Find out what the health hazard is first.
• Do a risk assessment to decide how you can prevent harm to our health.
• Make sure that controlled measures are being used.
• Then make sure these measures are being used.
• Provide information such as instructions/training about the substances to employees and others.
• Plan for emergencies. 
• Different signs could also be used on objects to prevent substances from exploding or catching fire. 

How COSHH affects the sporting environment?

I think that COSHH is a really important legislation to follow because it could cause really serious injuries. As you may know a sport centre would be full of substances because for example cleaners would use them to clean the centre or for example chlorine in swimming pools. If COSHH wasn't in place then who ever went swimming could be in danger of actually dying not from drowning but from the actual chlorine. This is because in swimming pools chlorine is added in certain amounts and if too much is added it has a really bad effect on us and could lead to skin diseases. However, thanks to this legislation the chlorine in swimming pools is controlled as much as possible and all the health hazards are eliminated. 

Health and Safety First Aid (1981)

What is the Health and Safety First Aid (1981) legislation?

The Health and Safety First Aid legislation is actually a really important legislation that is used almost every where possible at sport centres, fitness clubs, football clubs and at gyms and many other places of work. Thanks to this legislation every working place you go there will always be a first aid kit around and most possible a qualified first aider around. This is also a code of practice so every can have a copy of the Health and Safety First Aid (1981) guide. This legislation tells you about:

• managing the provision of first aid e.g. first-aid kits, equipment, rooms etc.
• requirements and training for first aiders.
• requirements for appointed people.
• First air arrangement awareness information for employees.
• And also about cases where first aid regulations do not need to be applied. 

How Health and Safety First Aid (1981) affects the sporting environment?

The health and safety First Aid legislation affects the sporting environment drastically because if you think about it everywhere you go to do some sort of activity or sport you will always know that there is some one there that will take care of you of you injure yourself in other words a qualified first aider. However, if there isn't a first aider you know that there is definitely a first aid kit somewhere not far because thanks to this legislation there has to be one! If a sports centre or some sort of venue don't have first aid kits or first aiders around at all times then I think that they really do deserve to get sued straight away because having a first aider or a first aid kit around is really important. You never know when someone might get injured while playing football or other sports and if there isn't someone qualified to help out the minor injury could turn into a major injury that would really not be beneficial and right. Many different incidents happen that's why I think that this legislation is really important to follow as it has definitely helped many people already.