The impact of this position is that Safeway is responsible for any information gathered about Safeway customers. They are required to keep all information with reasonable care so that it will not be distributed to anyone that the consumer does not first agree to.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
There are ten main points:
1. Employers are required to take reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work.
2. If they do not they could subject to criminal prosecution in the Magistrates Court or a Crown Court. They could also be sued by an employee for personal injury or in some cases the employer being prosecuted for corporate manslaughter.
3. As well as this legal responsibility, the employer also has an implied responsibility to take reasonable steps as far as they are able to ensure the health and safety of their employees is not put at risk. So an employer might be found liable for his actions or failure to act even if these are not written in law.
4. An employer should assess the level of risk as against the cost of eliminating that risk in deciding whether they have taken reasonable steps as far as they are able.
5. The employer's responsibility to the employee might include a duty to provide safe plant and machinery and safe premises, a safe system of work and competent trained and supervised staff. They may also need to consider groups of employees who may require more care and supervision than others, for example disabled workers, pregnant workers, illiterate workers etc.
6. The employer must consult either directly with their employees or through an elected representative on health and safety matters. If there is a recognised union with an appointed safety representative they must consult with them and allow them time off for training in health and safety issues.
7. Usually the employer's responsibility is only to his or her own employees and premises; however, the responsibility can be extended in some circumstances, being:
- Where employees from different firms are employed on one job, the main contractor will then be responsible for co-ordinating the work in a safe manner and must inform all employees of possible hazards whether they are his actual employees or not.
- Where the employee is sent to work for someone else but remains employed by the same employer but an accident happens at the place where he has been sent to work, the responsibility may fall on the original employer.
- The employer may also have responsibility to customers or visitors who use the work place.
8. It is recommended that employers have a written code of conduct, rules regarding training & supervision, and rules on safety procedures. Also include information on basic health and safety requirements, and leaflets and posters giving warnings of hazards are always advisable.
9. An employer must establish a health and safety policy if they employ five or more workers and must consult an appointed safety representative, when considering safety policy, if there is a trade union in the work place.
10. Any prospective employer setting up a new business should be aware of six important regulations which came about as a result of membership to the European Union and are incorporated into UK law.
Safeway Health & Safety Policy
At Safeway they recognise that the customers are their most valuable asset. Safeway committed to protecting customers well being, may be affected by their business activities.
So far as reasonably practicable at Safeway:
- Ensure that in the running of our business we don’t expose anyone to anything that may be considered a risk to his or her health, safety or welfare.
- Continuously improve our health and safety performance as part of the way we plan and run our business and, as a minimum, comply with relevant health and safety legislation.
- Provide safe working practices and a safe working environment, together with the information, training, instruction and supervision which will enable you to perform your duties safely.
- Require you to work safely and with consideration for your safety and the safety of others.
- Keep you involved in and informed about health, safety and welfare issues, promote active personal involvement, safe behaviour, teamwork and co-operation.
- Continually develop and apply a systematic approach to the management of health and safety within the business.
- Require contractors who are selected to undertake work on our behalf to apply equivalent standards of care for health and safety.
Provide competent support and advisory services to assist with the effective implementation of this policy.
Safeway have recently circulated first health and safety report to their employees in order to illustrate where and what actions underway to improve our health and safety performance. They have encouraging employees to consider three key health and safety challenges facing Safeway and how they can make a difference:-
- Protecting members of public visiting Safeway premises.
- Reduction in stock handling injuries to staff.
- Motivation and training of staff in health and safety.
Appropriate targets have been developed in line with challenges already laid down to the Health and Safety Executive by the Government.
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Impact on Safeway of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
The law imposes a responsibility on the employer to ensure safety at work for all their employees, contained in the Health & Safety At Work Act 1974, which established the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive, who are responsible for the implementation and policing of the act.
Safeway has, as a result of this act, created its own Health and Safety Executive and Safety Committee which is responsible for all aspects of health and safety in Safeway. They carry out regular checks on the incidences of accidents and injuries and investigate the causes. They have the power to recommend changes of procedure and working practice.
Supply of Goods Act 1973
The law were extended to cover goods supplied as part of a service, on hire or in part exchange. For example, parts supplied in repairing a video recorder, a hire car, or a new vacuum cleaner part exchanged for an old one, all have to be of merchantable satisfactory quality and fit for the purpose. Standards of service are also covered by the Act, which protects consumers from poor workmanship, long delays and hidden costs. An important amendment changed merchantable quality to satisfactory quality. Also what a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory with regards to price, description etc including aspects of quality such as - safety, freedom from minor defects, appearance, durability and fitness of purpose.
Safeway’s value that quality of their food has a number of conditions that must be met:
- Supplier Approval – Potential new suppliers will receive an initial visit by a Safeway Food Technologist, followed by an independent auditor working to industry standards. If these are both satisfactory the suppler will be approved to supply Safeway.
- Product Approval – New products must pass a pre-approval panel before moving onto full-scale taste panels, where they must pass stringent testing before approval to carry the Safeway brand.
The impact Supply of Goods Act 1973
Quality Assessment – Detailed specifications are now developed to ensure that the product can be produced consistently to achieve in quality and safety standards. Once products are in regular production the staff are monitored on a regular basis by Safeway’s own technical team. This includes obtaining random samples from all of the stores to be assessed by their Home Economics department, cooking trials and taste panels to check that they continue to meet their specifications. Samples are also purchased by an independent laboratory to ensure that they meet any specific claims or legal requirements.
Sale of Goods Act 1979
|Consumer rights were first set out in the Sale of Goods Act 1893. This was amended by the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and extended by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. When you buy goods, you enter into a legal contract with the seller. As soon as you offer to buy, this is accepted, then the seller and not the manufacturer must deal with any complaints you have to make. The seller must ensure that the goods that are sold are satisfactory.
The impact on Sale of Goods Act 1979
- They must be of merchantable quality, fit for their normal purpose. A new item must not be damaged or broken and it must work properly
- They must be fit for any particular purpose if you have specifically asked for a tube of glue which will mend china, then the glue must do this
- They must be as described by the manufacturer or seller, e.g. a pair of shoes described on the box as 'real leather' should not be made of plastic
Particular care should be taken in buying second-hand goods that, although still covered by the Act, would not reasonably be expected to be of the same quality.
Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982
Impact on the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982
This law will help you to sort out your problems if you have a complaint about a service or goods provided as part of a service. As far as the latter is concerned, it is essentially an extension of your rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
The Act falls into two main parts and covers contracts made either in writing or verbally. Basically, the first part deals with the transfer or hire of goods and the second covers services.
SALE AND SUPPLY OF GOODS ACT 1994
This law were extended to cover goods supplied as part of a service, on hire or in part exchange. For example, parts supplied in repairing a video recorder, a hire car, or a new vacuum cleaner part exchanged for an old one, all have to be of merchantable 'satisfactory' quality and fit for the purpose. Standards of service are also covered by the Act, which protects consumers from poor workmanship, long delays and hidden costs. An important amendment changed 'merchantable' quality to 'satisfactory' quality. Also what a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory with regards to price, description etc including aspects of quality such as - safety, freedom from minor defects, appearance, durability and fitness of purpose.
The consumer policy at the organisation
THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1987
The aim of the Consumer Protection Act was to help to safeguard the consumer from products that do not reach a reasonable level of safety. The main areas dealt with can be described as Product Liability and Consumer Safety.
Product liability
The Act allows injured persons to sue producers, importers and own-branders for death, personal injury or losses on private property valued above £275 and the injured party must be able to show that on the balance of probabilities, the defect in the product caused the damage. Prior to the Act the injured party could only sue the supplier under the Sale of Goods Act.
Defective products are defined as being those where the safety of the product is not such as persons generally are entitled to expect. On the other hand a product will not be considered defective simply because it is of poor quality or because a safer version is subsequently put on the market.
A court would take into account:
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The way in which the product was marketed
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Any instructions or warnings coming with the product
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What might reasonably expect to be done with it
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The time that the producer supplied the product.
The extent of the defendant's liability could be affected by any contributory negligence on the part of the person making the claim.
Consumer safety
The Consumer Protection Act has been substantially changed by the General Product Safety Regulations introduced in 1994.
Essentially the Regulations require producers and distributors to take steps to ensure that the products they supply are safe, that they provide consumers with relevant information and warnings, and that they keep themselves informed about risks.
Safe products are defined as being products which under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, including duration, present no risk or only the minimum risk compatible with the product’s use, and which is consistent with a high level of protection for consumers.
Offences against the Act can incur penalties of up to a £5,000 fine or a maximum prison term of six months, or both.
Safeway run a rolling research programme to monitor the consumer’s, perceptions of Safeway, involving interviews with around 25,000 consumers each quarter. This is conducted by an independent agency.
The results are fed back to store managers every quarter, giving every manager clear guidance on what consumers like about the store and what needs to be improved.
Additionally Safeway conduct 'ad hoc' studies to test consumer’s reaction to various initiatives and issues (e.g. food safety issues). Some store managers also hold regular "consumers panels" to maintain a direct dialogue with their customers.
Consumers are enquiries monitored by a central call facility, which is responsible for responding to and briefing relevant parts of the business to deal with particular issues raised.
Every six months we carry out a survey amongst shoppers to monitor the level of interest they have in specific CSR issues. This will enable us to measure trends over time and help us in the development of specific CSR initiatives.
