Sign up to enforce health and safety standards


The HSE has called on councils to sign up to a statement of commitment to deliver “their legal duty as enforcers of workplace health and safety” and work with others “to deliver effective and correctly targeted solutions to keep workers safe”.


HSE figures show that failures in the management of health and safety in local authority-enforced sectors, such as retail, entertainment, warehousing and the supply chain, result in more than 100,000 new cases of ill health, 5000 major injuries and the deaths of around 10 workers each year. Around 15 members of the public, including children, are also killed each year in avoidable incidents, it reports. 


Councils enforce safety on behalf of around half the total British workforce and in around two-thirds of business premises.


The HSE acknowledges that many councils “face a challenging environment in the way they deliver a range of regulatory services and statutory duties”. 


UNISON acting head of health and safety Robert Baughan told Workplace Report: “Under-pressure local authorities urgently need the government to give them the resources they need to help keep employees safe. Starving councils and the Health and Safety Executive of funding will simply result in more workers being put at risk as they deliver vital public services.”


www.hse.gov.uk/lau/statement.htm