Volume 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health
9. Occupational health: The Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974
Introduction

9.1 The earlier chapters of this volume and other volumes of this Report identify a number of industries and businesses involved in the raising and slaughter of cattle, the production of meat and meat products, the production and use of bovine by-products, and the disposal of bovine remains. Apart from the physical processes involved in raising and slaughter, live animals, carcasses and by-products had to be transported and stored. Diseased animals were treated by farm workers and veterinarians. Meanwhile, animal tissues were studied in laboratories and schools, and ingredients were extracted for vaccines and medicines at manufacturing facilities.

9.2 A large number of people therefore came into contact with cattle carcasses or tissues in the day-to-day course of their work. Even before the emergence of BSE, this could present health and safety dangers to people at work and others who might be affected by the activities of those at work.

9.3 This chapter describes the legislative and regulatory framework that operated between 1986 and 1996 in respect of health and safety issues and risks generally. This was the background against which any measures specific to possible risks from BSE had to be considered, a topic considered in Chapter 8 of vol. 6: Human Health, 1989-96.