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Legislation

PG Diploma in Hospitality Management

Customer Service and Quality Systems – Session 7

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Objectives

• Understand background of UK and EU legislation

• Understand the principles of UK health and safety at work legislation

• Understand the principles of UK food safety legislation and its enforcement

• Understand the principles of UK sale of alcohol legislation

• Understand the principles of UK data protection legislation and how it affects the hospitality industry

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Review

• Explain each of the gaps in the 5 gap model• What are the principles of TQM and how can tney be

used in the hospitality industry?• What are the five dimensions of SERVQUAL?• What features make good service quality standards?

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Exercise

• In groups of 2 or 3 list the areas of a hotel business that you think are affected by legislation

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British Law

Components:-– Common Law– Precedence– Statute Law

Bills are voted into Law by the House of CommonsNB. Scotland has a separate legal system

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Courts

• House of Lords• Court of Appeal• High Court• Crown Court• County Court• Magistrates Court

– Deals with more cases than other courts– Deals with licensing law and food hygiene matters

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European Legislation

• 1957 Treaty of Rome brings EEC into existence

• 1987 Single European Act inserts a new article into the Treaty of Rome establishing an internal market – an area in which there is the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital

• DirectivesEuropean Union issues directives which are put before the British House of Commons

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Principles of EU Legislation

• Equal pay for equal work

• Equal treatment for women and men

• Preservation of employees’ rights when business changes hands

• Rights in relation to health and safety at work

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Health & Safety Exercise

• What, ideally, do you think should be covered by health and safety at work legislation?

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Health & Safety at Work Act 1974

For the employer:

• The Act places a general duty to "ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees".

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Employer’s Responsibilities

• Provide and maintain safety equipment and safe systems of work

• Ensure materials used are properly stored, handled, used and transported

• Provide information, training, instruction and supervision. Ensure staff are aware of instructions provided by manufacturers and suppliers of equipment

• Provide a safe place of employment• Provide a safe working environment• Provide a written safety policy/risk assessment• Look after health and safety of others, example public• Talk to safety representatives

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Employees’ Responsibilities

• Take care of their own health and safety and that of other persons - employees may be liable

• Co-operate with their employers

• Must not interfere with anything provided in the interest of health and safety

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Related Legislation - PUWER

Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 All equipment given to employees must be:• Safe and of good standard• In a small office, ensure all electrical equipment is tested

and certified• Employers have a responsibility to ensure all employees

are fully trained to use the equipment they work with• Must have some focus on employee health eg.

– posture (for chair based workers)– eye-strain (when using screens and computers)– repetitive strain injury and other work-related health

risks

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Related Legislation - LOLER

Lifting Operations & Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998

Governs provision and use of lifting equipment and lifting operations in all work places in UK

• Regulations are under the Health and Safety Work Act 1974

• Builds on requirements of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER’98)

• LOLER provides a single set of modern “goal setting” regulations governing the provision and use of lifting equipment

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Food Safety Legislation

• What do you think is covered by UK law on food safety?

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Scope of Food Safety Act 1990

• Provide safety controls through the food chain from source to ultimate consumption

• Ensure that food produced for sale is safe and not misleadingly labelled or advertised

• Reinforce present powers, penalties and ensure consistency of enforcement

• Ensure that the new EU directives on food can be implemented

• Simplify and streamline existing legislation

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Food Safety Act Main Provisions

• Food safety offencesIf food is: injurious to health, unfit for human consumption or contaminated

• Consumer protectionFood health and hygiene issues enforced by EHOs and fraudulent trading practices by TSOs

• EnforcementMay inspect food at all reasonable times at any stage between production and consumption and can issue Improvement Notices and Prohibition Orders

• Enabling powersPowers to issue future directives

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Due Diligence

• Responsibility to ensure that a safe and efficient system of food handling exists and all reasonable precautions are taken against contamination

• Risk assessment

• Management control

• Staff training, supervision and competence

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Risk Assessment

• Cleaning and pest control

• Ordering and specification

• Storage and stock rotation

• Food preparation and cooking

• Temperature control

• Refuse disposal

• Personal hygiene and training

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Sale of Alcohol Exercise

• What do you know about UK law relating to the sale of alcohol?

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Liquor Licensing

• Licensing Act 1964 amended 1988 and 2003

• On-licenses and off-licenses• Permitted hours

– Sundays: 12pm to 3pm and 7pm to 10:30pm– Other days: 11am to 11pm

• For information on 2003 amendments see:http://www.culture.gov.uk/alcohol_and_entertainment/licensing_act_2003/

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EU Directive on Data Protection

• Personal data should not be processed at all except when certain conditions are met:– Transparency

eg. when the data subject has given his consent – Legitimate Purpose

Personal data can only be processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes

– ProportionalityPersonal data may be processed only insofar as it is adequate, relevant and not excessive

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Data Protection Act (1998)

• An implementation of European Union Directive 95/46/EC

• Provided a legal basis for the privacy and protection of data of individuals in the UK.

• Provided for a regulatory authority, the Office of the Information Commissioner to oversee the implementation of and adherence to the Act.

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Data Protection Act - Principles

• These specify that personal data must be: 1. Processed fairly and lawfully2. Obtained for specified and lawful purposes3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive4. Accurate and up to date5. Not kept any longer than necessary6. Processed in accordance with the “data subject’s”

(the individual’s) rights7. Securely kept8. Not transferred to any other country without adequate

protection in situ

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Planning Legislation

• Town and Country Planning Act 1990

• Building a new structure

• Change of use