Analyse the importance of legislative and regulatory
D2
controls on food retailers
It is very important for food retailers to keep control of all legislations and oblige by them, as if they
do not it can result in fines, deaths, accidents and court cases.
It is very important that food retailers such as Tesco to oblige by the health and safety at work Act
1974 as they will get into problems this was seen by the problem when a member of staff was
injured by a bunch of goods falling on them when unloading a lorry (Unknown author, HSM 2018)
This resulted in the person being severely injured, This was due to Tesco not obliging by Thurrock
council health and safety which standard when a delivering goods to a store it should be moved by
two people to ensure safety on employees, the reason this impacted Tesco is because they knew this
however to save money they just told one employee to do it. If Tesco obliged by the law it would
have allowed them to not face this consequence meaning they wouldn’t need to lose out on money
as well as kept everyone safe.
Health and safety laws secure the health safety and welfare of everyone at work, this allows them
to be protected from any risks that could possibly occur at work, a legislation that is very important
is control of Control of Substance Hazardous to Health regulations 2002.This act is very important for
food retailers to meet as it will ensure the workplace is a safer environment, however if food
retailers o not meet there health and safety measure they will be prosecuted and fined, an example
of this is Tesco when an employee was using a corrosive cleaning product and accidently squirted
themselves in the eye, resulting in him going blind, The case was followed up by the Colchester
borough council, and decided on Tesco being in the wrong due to not wearing protective glasses
resulting in Tesco having to pay a fine of £125,000 (Angela Partington), not only did Tesco have to
pay a fine, but have lost their reputation slightly. This backs up the point of how important oblige by
the legation is as if the employee was provided with the correct equipment it would have never
happened, this shows just how beneficial the legation is as if followed it will result in only good
things for the company.
Another massive problem Tesco has was a death within the workplace that has faced problems due
to not sticking to legislation, this was due to the Tesco Vehicle reversing into a loading bay when an
employee walled past the back of the lorry and got hit, this resulted in death as well as a massive
£1.6 million fine, this was because the drive did not look into his mirrors as well as Tesco having the
car park open when it was meant to be closed (Angela Parrington, Health Safety At Work 2018). This
could have been prevent if Tesco followed the health and safety rules by shutting off sections to the
public to allow no hazards to be present. This backs my first analogy as they must stick to health and
safety at work legislation, as this would have never occurred, and would keep food retailer from
receiving fines as well as a bad reputation from customers.
It is very important that hygiene legislations are controlled an example of not meeting hygiene
legislation Food safety is when Asda’s Food safety legislations was not meet this was seen when
mice were found running around ASDA's bakery’s, inspectors of this found dropping all over food ,
meaning a fine was mandatory, the issue that occurred meant that ASDA had to go to court in
Liverpool and were fined £ 700,000 on top of having to temporary close the bakery at ASDA resulting
in no income for ASDA from that store as well as unhappy customers who wanted to purchase from
the bakery’s , meaning they had to switch to other competitors. This backs my point furthermore as
if ASDA would have kept to legations it would have provide a safer working environment and
ensures customers got edible food (Rob Waugh, 2018), The benefit of following the food safety
