This pages give you information about various aspects of maintaining health and safety standards in the workplace.
Health and safety enforcement is split between:
Northumberland County Council, covering most service and retail premises within our area.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), covering larger premises, e.g. factories.
Click here for more information on who enforces health and safety.
Provide a safe, healthy place of work for your staff, customers, visitors and contractors.
Provide and maintain safe equipment and machinery suitable for its purpose.
Plan work activities so they are safe and without risks to health and provide necessary protective equipment.
Provide staff and others with necessary information, instruction, supervision and training.
Assess risks to staff and others from the workplace and activities, and check necessary safeguards are in place.
Check contractors use safe systems of work when on your premises and give them any information they might need to work safely, e.g. asbestos panels on fire doors.
Record accidents in your accident book and report them when necessary.
Health and safety law is enforced by inspectors from Northumberland County Council or the health and safety executive (HSE).
Proactive inspections are no longer routinely undertaken and where they do occur are targeted towards high risk premises and activities, and premises where intelligence suggests risks are not being effectively managed. It is more commonly the case that the inspector will carry out an intervention type other than inspection such as an advisory visit targeted towards a specific business sector and / or associated with a topic that has been identified either nationally, regionally or locally as a matter of concern.
Visits may also result from complaints from staff or the public or as a result of an accident investigation. Inspectors have various powers to allow them to do their job, including powers of entry.
Inspectors have the right to enter any workplace without giving notice, though notice may be given where appropriate. On a normal visit an inspector would expect to look at the workplace, work activities, your management of health and safety, and to check you are complying with health and safety law. The inspector may offer helpful advice. They may also talk to employees and their representatives, take photographs and samples, serve improvement notices and take action if there is an immediate risk to health and safety.
On finding a breach of health and safety law, the inspector decides what action to take. The action will depend on the breach, and will be based on the council’s health and safety enforcement policy.
Inspectors may take action in several ways to deal with a breach of the law. In most cases these are: Informal Where the breach is relatively minor, the inspector may tell the Duty Holder what to do to comply with the law and explain why. If asked, the inspector will write to confirm any advice, and to distinguish legal requirements from guidance. Improvement notice Where the breach is more serious, the inspector may issue an improvement notice to tell the duty holder to do something to comply with the law. The inspector will discuss the notice and, if possible, resolve points of difference before serving it. The notice will say what needs to be done, why, and by when. The time period within which to take remedial action will be at least 21 days, to allow the Duty Holder time to appeal to an employment tribunal if they so wish (see 'appeals' below). The inspector can take further action if the notice is not complied with within the allotted time period. Prohibition notice Where an activity involves, or will involve, the risk of serious injury, the inspector may serve a prohibition notice stopping the activity immediately or after a specified time period, and not allowing it to be resumed until action has been taken. Prosecution In some cases, the inspector may consider it is necessary to initiate a prosecution. Decisions on whether to prosecute are informed by the principles in HSE’s enforcement policy statement. Health and safety law gives the courts considerable scope for punishing offenders and deterring others. For example, failure to comply with an improvement or prohibition notice, or a court remedy order, carries a fine of up to £20,000, six months’ imprisonment, or both. Appeals A duty holder will be given information in the notes section on the back of an improvement notice about the right to appeal to an employment tribunal when a notice is served. The duty holder will be told:
How to appeal and given a link to the form with which to appeal.
Where and in what period an appeal may be brought.
The action required by an improvement notice is suspended while an appeal is pending.
During a normal visit, an inspector will check that those in charge have arrangements in place for consulting and informing employees or their representatives about health and safety matters which are required by law. An inspector will meet or speak to employees or their representatives during a visit, wherever possible, unless this is clearly inappropriate because of the purpose of the visit. When they meet, employees or their representatives should always be given the opportunity to speak privately to the inspector, if they wish. Where necessary, the inspector will provide employees or their representatives with information to keep them informed about matters affecting their health, safety and welfare. This information relates to the workplace, activities taking place there, and actions which the inspector has taken or wants to take. The type of information an inspector will provide includes:
Matters of serious concern.
Details of any enforcement action taken.
An intention to prosecute the business (but not before the duty holder is informed).
Depending on the circumstances, the inspector may provide this information in writing or face to face.
You need to report:
specified injuries
incapacitation of a worker that lasts more than seven days
occupational diseases
dangerous occurrences
Death or specified injury If an employee or a self-employed person is killed or suffers a specific injury accidentally, or if a member of the public is killed or taken to hospital, you must notify the enforcing authority immediately. The list of ‘specified injuries’ in RIDDOR 2013 (regulation four) are:
Fractures, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes.
Any injury likely to lead to permanent loss or reduction in sight.
Any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs.
Serious burns (including scalding) which cover more than 10% of the body or causes significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs.
Any scalping requiring hospital treatment.
Any loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia.
Any other injury from working in an enclosed space which leads to hypothermia or heat-induced illness, or requires resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours.
More than seven-day incapacitation Accidents must be reported where they result in an employee or self-employed person being away or unable to perform normal work duties for more than seven consecutive days because of their injury. This seven-day period does not include the day of the accident but does include weekends and rest days. The report must be made within 15 days of the accident. More than three-day incapacitation Accidents must be recorded, but not reported, where they result in a worker being incapacitated for more than three consecutive days. If you are an employer who must keep an accident book under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, that record will be enough. Non-fatal accidents to non-workers Accidents to members of the public or others who are not at work must be reported if they result in an injury and the person is taken directly from the scene to hospital for treatment. Examinations and diagnostic tests do not count as ‘treatment.’ There is no need to report incidents where people are taken to hospital as a precaution. If the accident occurred at a hospital, the report only needs to be made if the injury is a ‘specified injury’ (see above). Disease If a doctor confirms an employee suffers from a reportable work-related disease then you must report it to the authority. Reportable diseases include:
certain poisonings
some skin diseases e.g. occupational dermatitis, skin cancer, chrome ulcer, acne
lung diseases including occupational asthma, asbestosis, mesothelioma
infections such as hepatitis, tuberculosis and tetanus
Other conditions such as occupational cancer, some musculoskeletal disorders and hand-arm vibration syndrome.
Visit the Health and Safety Executive website for a full list of reportable diseases. Dangerous occurrences Dangerous occurrences are certain, specified near-miss events. Not all such events require reporting. There are 27 categories of dangerous occurrences relevant to most workplaces.
Click here for further guidance on these dangerous occurrences.
The law requires certain work-related injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive. You can do it online:
Click here to report an injury.
Click here to report a dangerous occurrence.
Click here to report a disease.
We cannot deal with complaints where we have no jurisdiction. You should contact us if your complaint is about these types of premises within Northumberland:
offices (except government offices)
restaurants, cafes and takeaways
leisure premises (except council-owned facilities)
nurseries and playgroups (not schools)
pubs and clubs
privately owned museums
places of worship
sheltered accommodation and care homes
HSE is responsible for enforcing health and safety at workplaces including:
building sites
nuclear installations
schools and colleges
gas, electricity and water systems
hospitals and nursing homes
central and local government premises
offshore installations
Click here for more detailed information on who enforces health and safety
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