Council safety inspection visits rates plummet


The average local authority-enforced business can now expect a health and safety inspection only once every 38 years, according to professionals’ union Prospect. 


The plummeting rate of inspections by council environmental health officers (EHOs) was revealed in papers to the December 2018 HSE board meeting. It prompted the safety watchdog to warn that dwindling EHO visits and declining resources pose a risk to the regulatory system (see Workplace Report, December 2018, page 14).


Councils enforce health and safety law in around two million business premises, including care homes and catering; leisure, entertainment and cultural facilities; retail and wholesale; childcare and nurseries; warehousing; most garages; offices; and petrol stations.


They carried out 73% fewer inspections in the last financial year than they did in 2009-10. Prospect says it has gathered additional statistics showing the decline has been an even more severe 88% in the longer term. EHOs made only 52,400 health and safety visits in 2017-18 compared to 450,000 in 1995-96. 


The union also pointed to an increase in the number of premises for which councils have enforcement responsibility and says the last decade has seen the enforcement regime switch from predominantly preventative to heavily reactive. Inspectors planned just 16% of their visits in 2017-18 compared to around 60% before 2011-12.


HSE board papers are available at: https://webcommunities.hse.gov.uk/connect.ti/HSEmeetings/view?objectId=684389