OSR1 Guidance Notes

To register your busines with the Health and Safety team you can download your OSR1 form here,

• OSR1 Form

Explanatory Notes

(These do not purport to be comprehensive and in case of doubt you should consult the appropriate authority specified in note 1 below)

Appropriate authority to whom this form should be sent

1.
The appropriate authority depending upon the class of premises is:

• Offices and shops (including fuel storage premises) other than those mentioned under (b) to (g) immediately below
  Local authority for the area in which premises are situated. (In England and Wales, the District / Borough / City Council. In Scotland the District / Island Council).
• Premises owned or occupied by the Crown.
  Health and Safety Executive.
• Premises occupied by county councils, local police and fire authorities and probation committees (including offices and shops in schools maintained by a local education authority).
  Health and Safety Executive.
• UK Atomic Energy Authority premises.
  Health and Safety Executive.
• Offices and shops in factories and other places covered by the Factories Act 1961.
  Health and Safety Executive.
• Fuel storage premises on land owned by railway undertakers.
  Health and Safety Executive.
• Offices and shops at mines and quarries, including certain fuel storage premises (see note 4(d)).
  Health and Safety Executive.

Addresses of the Health and Safety Executive for your area and of local authorities may be obtained at any Employment Office.

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Premises to which the Act applies

2

Generally speaking all office and shop premises are within the scope of the Act. Premises to which the Act does not apply are:

• Places where only self-employed people work.
• Businesses where the only persons employed are close relatives of the employer, ie husband, wife, parent, grandparent, son, daughter, grandchild, brother or sister of the persons by whom they are employed.
• Outworkers' dwellings (if they are the only persons employed there).
• Premises where the sum of hours normally worked each week by all employees is not more than 21.
• Premises occupied solely by members of the armed forces or of the armed forces of certain other countries.
• Premises used for selling fish wholesale in docks.
• Parts of mines below ground.

In effect, the Act also excludes premises occupied for purposes that are accomplished within short periods (ie six weeks for a permanent structure, or six months for a movable structure).

3

Office premises means a building (or part of a building) the sole or principal use of which is an office or for 'office purposes'; 'office purposes' includes administration, clerical work, handling money, and telephone and telegraph operating; and 'clerical work' includes writing, book-keeping, sorting papers, filing, typing duplicating, machine calculating, drawing and the editorial preparation of matter for publication. This definition includes offices which are part of building used for other purposes (eg offices in factories, hospitals and clubs). It also includes such places as ticket offices, travel agencies and betting offices. Offices occupied by railway undertakers situated in the immediate vicinity of the permanent way are registered under separate arrangements and occupiers of such premises should not complete this form except in respect of offices in hotels.

4

Shop premises include the following:

• Shop (retail)
  This includes 'shops' in the everyday sense of the word, eg butchers, grocers, etc; it also includes a building (or part of a building) (1) of which the sole or principal use is the carrying on there of retail trade or business, eg barbers and hairdressers, retail sales by auction, lending books or periodicals for gain; and (2) to which members of the public are invited to resort either to leave goods for repair or treatment themselves, eg the parts of shoe repair shops or dry cleaning establishments where goods are received, or self-service laundries.
• Wholesale premises or warehouses
  A building (or part of a building) occupied by a wholesale dealer or merchant where goods are kept for sale wholesale (but excluding warehouses forming part of factories or belonging to the owners, trustees or conservators of docks, wharves or quays).
• Catering establishments open to the public
  This includes such places as teashops, cafés, restaurants, fish and chip shops and public houses. Bars and dining rooms of hotels are also included if they are principally used for serving non-residents.
• Fuel storage premises
  This includes premises used for the storage of coal, coke and similar solid fuel and occupied for the purpose of a trade or business which consists of, or includes, the sale of such fuel. It does not, however, include such premises (1) in docks, or (2) at mines except for those where employees other than mine employees work.

5

Premises occupied together with office or shop premises for the purposes of the activities carried out there are treated as part of the premises for the purpose of the Act. You should therefore include in the total figure under question 4 such workers as cleaners, boilermen, van drivers or travellers (so long as they are based in the office or shop), or those in staff canteens at the same address wholly or mainly serving office or shop workers. The last should also be shown separately under the appropriate heading. If your staff canteen is situated at an address different from that of your premises, a separate registration form should be completed. Do not include anyone who spends most of his time working in any parts of your premises to which the Act does not apply, eg any parts which are registered as a 'factory' under the Factories Act 1961.

6

In answering question 4, you should count only the staff actually employed (or whom you intend to employ) at the time when the form is completed. Part-time workers should be counted as full units. You are not required to notify changes in the numbers employed unless this is necessary for the purpose of fire certification (see note 9).

7

Questions 4(a) to (f) are asked in order to establish how many of the persons employed on your premises are working in different parts of the premises in the various categories listed in notes 3 to 5 above. For example, a departmental store may contain an office, restaurant and staff canteen as well as those parts used for retailing. If your premises are divided in this kind of way, you should show the number of persons working in the different parts of the premises. Workers who are employed in more than one part of the premises should be classified according to the part where they spend most of their time. For example, a shop assistant occasionally serving in a restaurant attached to the shop should be included in the figure for 'shop (retail)'. A cashier working in a shop should be included in the figure for 'shop (retail)'. If your premises are not divided into different parts, all you need to do is to state the figure under the appropriate heading.

8

Detailed information about the Act is given in the Guide to the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 (HS(R)4(Rev) ISBN 0 11 8854631, published by HM Stationery Office. The Guide can be obtained at branches of HM Stationery Office or through booksellers.

9

The Fire Precautions (Factories, Offices, Shops and Railway Premises) Order 1989, SI 1989 No 76, designates premises for which a fire certificate is required. These are, with some minor qualifications, factory, office, shop and railway premises to which the Factory Act 1961 and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 apply in which either (a) more than 20 persons are at work at any one time or (b) more than 10 persons are at work at any one time elsewhere than on the ground floor.

Additionally a fire certificate is required if a building contains two or more premises of these kinds and the aggregate of persons at work in all these premises exceeds 20 or the aggregate number at work elsewhere than on the ground floor in these premises exceeds 10. A fire certificate is also required in respect of factory premises in or under which explosive or highly flammable materials are used or stored unless the fire authority has determined otherwise.

For the purpose of the 1989 Order 'at work' includes employee, self-employed, apprentice or trainee.

Application for a fire certificate should be made on form FP1(Rev) which can be obtained from your local fire authority whose address can be found in the telephone directory under your local authority.

If a fire certificate is not required, section 9A of the Fire Precautions Act 1971 requires factory, office, shop and railway premises to be provided with such means of escape and means for fighting fire as may reasonably be required. Guidance on how to meet this duty is given in the Code of Practice for fire precautions in factories, offices, shops and railway premises not required to have a fire certificate, published by HMSO, ISBN No 0 11 340904 4.

This information has been obtained from the Health & Safety Executive web site.