- Health and Safety Executive
-
Health and Safety Executive 
Non-departmental public body Crown status: Unknown Legal basis: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, ss.10-11 Established: 1974 Sponsoring department: Department for Work and Pensions Current head: Chairman - Judith Hackitt; Chief Executive - Geoffrey Podger The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland. Responsibility in Northern Ireland lies with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland. The HSE was created by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and has since absorbed earlier regulatory bodies such as the Factory Inspectorate and the Railway Inspectorate though the Railway Inspectorate was transferred to the Office of Rail Regulation in April 2006. The HSE is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions. As part of its work HSE investigates industrial accidents, small and large, including major incidents such as the explosion and fire at Buncefield in 2005. Though it formerly reported to the Health and Safety Commission, on 1 April 2008, the two bodies merged.[1][2]
Contents
Functions
The Executive's duties are to:[3]
- Assist and encourage persons concerned with matters relevant to the operation of the objectives of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
- Make arrangements for and encourage research and publication, training and information in connection with its work.
- Make arrangements for securing government departments, employers, employees, their respective representative organisations, and other persons are provided with an information and advisory service and are kept informed of, and adequately advised on such matters.
- Propose regulations.
The Executive is further obliged to keep the Secretary of State informed of its plans and ensure alignment with the policies of the Secretary of State, giving effect to any directions given to it.[4] The Secretary of State can give directions to the Executive.[5]
On 1 April 2006, the Executive ceased to have responsibility for railway safety.[6]
The Executive is responsible for the Employment Medical Advisory Service, which operates as part of its Field Operations Directorate.[7]
Structure and responsibilities
Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of health and safety legislation in shops, offices, and other parts of the service sector.
Agencies belonging to the HSE include
Explosives Inspectorate
HSE's Explosives Inspectorate enforces the legislation for the classification and transport of explosives. It licenses manufacturing and larger storage sites.
The Health and Safety Laboratory
Based in Buxton, Derbyshire, the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) employs over 350 people including scientists, engineers, psychologists, social scientists, health professionals and technical specialists. The services they provide include:
- Research and development
- Specialist advice and consultancy
- Forensic investigation into the causes of accidents
- Environmental and biological monitoring
- Assessment of levels of risk and investigation of their control
- Establishing realistic requirements for standards, and processes for meeting those standards
- Validation and certification
HM Inspectorate of Mines
HM Inspectorate of Mines is responsible for the correct implementation and inspection of safe working procedures within all UK mine workings. It is based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.[8]
Nuclear Directorate
The Nuclear Directorate was one of the bodies merged into the Office for Nuclear Regulation on 1 April 2011. Largely based in Bootle, the Nuclear Directorate had four main functions:
- nuclear safety and radioactive waste management of civilian and defence sites - Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
- security of civilian nuclear sites and nuclear transport - The Office for Nuclear Security (transferred to HSE April 2007)
- safeguarding civilian nuclear material to prevent diversion to weapons - UK Safeguards Office (transferred to HSE April 2007)
- a nuclear safety research programme
Criticism
The HSE has been criticised. Some of the criticism has been that its procedures are inadequate to protect safety. For example, the public enquiry by Lord Gill into the Stockline Plastics factory explosion criticised the HSE for "inadequate appreciation of the risks associated with buried LPG pipework ... and a failure properly to carry out check visits".[9] However, most criticism of the HSE is that their regulations are over-broad, suffocating, and part of a nanny state.[10] The Daily Telegraph, a right-wing broadsheet, has also been claimed that the HSE is part of a "compensation culture," that it is undemocratic and unaccountable,[11] that its rules are costing jobs.[12]
However, the HSE denies this,[13] saying that much of the criticism is misplaced because it relates to matters outside the HSE's remit. The HSE also responded to criticism by publishing a "Myth of the Month" section on its website between 2007 and 2010, which it described as "exposing the various myths about ‘health and safety’".[14][15] This has become a political issue in the UK. The Lord Young report, published in October 2010, recommended various reforms aiming "to free businesses from unnecessary bureaucratic burdens and the fear of having to pay out unjustified damages claims and legal fees."[16]
Areas of Regulation
The HSE focuses regulation of health and safety in the following sectors of industry:
- Agriculture
- Air transport
- Armed forces
- Catering and hospitality
- Construction industries
- Crown establishments
- Chemical manufacture and storage industries
- Professional diving
- Dockwork
- Education sector e.g. schools
- Engineering sector
- Entertainment and leisure industry
- Fire service
- Food and drink manufacture
- Footwear and leather industries
- Haulage
- Health Services e.g. hospitals
- Gas supply and installation; Gas Safe Register
- Laundries and dry-cleaning
- Mining
- Motor vehicle repair
- Nuclear installations; Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (aka NII)
- Office work
- Offshore Oil and Gas Installations
- Paper and board manufacturing industry
- Pesticides
- Police force
- Printing industries
- Public services
- The quarry industry
- Recycling and waste management industries
- Textiles industries
References
- ^ Department for Work and Pensions (1 April 2008). "Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive merge to form a single regulatory body". http://www.dwp.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2008/apr/emp070-010408.asp. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ Legislative Reform (Health and Safety Executive) Order 2008, SI 2008/960
- ^ Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s.11(2)
- ^ Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s.11(3)
- ^ Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s.12
- ^ Railways Act 2005, ss.2, 60/ Sch.3 para.3(1)(b)(2); Railways Act 2005 (Commencement No.5) Order 2006, SI 2006/266, art.2(2), Sch.
- ^ Health and Safety Executive (2000) The Employment Medical Advisory Service and You, HSE5(rev1) 07/00 C200
- ^ http://www.hse.gov.uk/mining/index.htm
- ^ "HSE response to Stockline 'too little, too late'". Daily Herald. 2009-08-30. http://www.heraldscotland.com/hse-response-to-stockline-too-little-too-late-1.826334. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
- ^ Martin, Arthur (2007-04-02). "Don't touch that office chair! Health and Safety demand 48 hours notice to move it". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-446245/Dont-touch-office-chair-Health-Safety-demand-48-hours-notice-it.html.
- ^ http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2009/12/david-cameron-declares-war-on-the-nonsense-of-the-overthetop-health-and-safety-culture.html
- ^ Political, Deputy (2010-08-27). "Health and safety laws are costing jobs". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7966428/Health-and-safety-laws-are-costing-jobs.html.
- ^ Dudman, Jane (2010-06-30). "Dispelling the myths around health and safety". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/30/judith-hackitt-health-safety-work.
- ^ http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/
- ^ "HSE and local authorities hit back at ‘health and Safety’ myths". HSE. 2007-07-03. http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2007/gnnwm09907.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
- ^ "Common Sense Common Safety: A report by Lord Young of Graffham to the Prime Minister". HM Government. p. 9. http://www.number10.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/402906_CommonSense_acc.pdf.
External links
- HSE website
- HSE news service website
- HSL website
- Gill Report into the Stockline explosion
- Young Report "Common Sense, Common Safety"
- HSE Podcast to mark centenary of HSL
Non-police law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom National England and Wales Environment Agency · Health and Safety Executive · Her Majesty's Prison Service · Marine Management Organisation · Serious Fraud Office (SFO) · Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) · Vehicle and Operator Services AgencyScotland Northern Ireland Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland · Northern Ireland Prison Service · Organised Crime Task Force · Serious Fraud Office (SFO)Categories:- Health in the United Kingdom
- Safety organizations
- Law enforcement agencies of England and Wales
- Law enforcement agencies of Scotland
- Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Industrial fires and explosions
- Occupational safety and health organizations
- 1974 establishments in the United Kingdom
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
