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Advice for local councillor's on the council's duty to enforce H&S law
09 July 2008
The HSE has published a guide for local councillors explaing why it is important that their council meets its duty to enforce health and safety laws.
The councillors' handbook - 'Your Council's Role in Health and Safety Regulation' - has been produced by HSE and LACORS (the Local Authority co-ordinator for regulatory services).
It explains the duty that district and unitary councils have to enforce health and safety in shops, offices, warehouses, etc. in their area. It also explains how the partnership betwween HSE and Local Authorities is being developed to promote health and safety at work and gives some case studies of work that some Local Authorities have been doing. In addition it explains how work on health and safety enforcement can hit many of the local government national indicators outlined in the Local Area Agreement structure.
One of the most useful sections is a short checklist of questions designed to make it easier for councillors to check that their Local Authority is meeting the targets for health and safety enforcement.
The vast majority of Usdaw members work in Local Authority enforced premises. So it is important for Usdaw that Local Authorities do commit resources to health and safety regulation and that Local Authority enforcement officers work with Usdaw health and safety reps to improve standards.
Any members who are active as councillors or are involved in local politics should click here to read the handbook and use the checklist to check that their local council is meeting its obligations on health and safety enforcement. Click here to see a copy of the handbook.
More information on how work on health and safety regulation can contribute to national indicators under the Local Area Agreement scheme is also available on the HSE website. Click on http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/laa/laaguide.pdf for details.
Local Authorities and HSE have also recently agreed new standards for both factory inspectors and local authority enforcement officers under Section 18 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Click on http://www.hse.gov.uk/section18/index.htm for more details.
Contact Details
Health and Safety section
Ph: 0161 249 2441
Fax: 0161 249 2475
Email: healthandsafety@usdaw.org.uk
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