Enforcement Pooling - the Benefits

Under the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998, Local Authorities (LAs) in the United Kingdom are responsible for the enforcement of Health and Safety legislation in more than half of all work premises and for around half of the employed workforce.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for the enforcement of premises such as nuclear installations, mines, hospitals, offshore oil and gas installations, transport depots and factories.

The current divide in the allocation of responsibility can be confusing and amount to an inefficient use of resources. More often than not, responsibility can switch between the HSE and the LA in question.

This had been addressed by the introduction of the concept of "flexible warranting" under section 19 of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA). It allows enforcing authorities to appoint "suitably qualified" inspectors and notably allows a LA to appoint an HSE inspector (and vice-versa)