What we do

Healthy and Safety Team

We're responsible for enforcing health and safety in non-industrial premises such as:

• shops
• offices
• warehouses
• restaurants
• hotels
• hairdressers
• cinemas and other entertainment venues

Our aim is to ensure all employers, employees and self-employed people understand and follow Health and Safety at Work Act requirements and legislation.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) handles industrial premises such as factories and construction sites.

Read more about the HSE.

Our mission statement

"To work in partnership with local businesses to inspire positive and responsible attitudes to health and safety through advice, sign-posting and taking appropriate enforcement action only where it is in the public interest."

We achieve this by:

• investigating complaints about unsatisfactory conditions at work
• responding to enquiries about health and safety in the workplace

Under accident reporting legislation, we also investigate employer workplace accidents. This can lead to more in-depth inspection and enforcement action.

Visits and inspections

We carry out project-related health and safety advisory visits and inspections in workplaces. These assess the degree of risk associated with particular work activities and premises, and determine any future inspections.

During visits we inspect working conditions and activities including:

• safety of working at height
• compliance with duty to manage asbestos materials
• manual handling
• workplace environment such as lighting, ventilation and temperature
• use and storage of chemicals
• safety of equipment and first aid
• sanitary and washing facilities
• guarding of machinery
• exposure to noise
• cleanliness

We also check that employers have:

• a company health and safety policy
• carried out risk assessments
• safe systems of work
• trained their staff appropriately