Health and Safety Enforcement Policy

This is to let you know how the council enforces health and safety legislation. It will also tell you what to expect from enforcement officers when they visit your business, and what guides them when carrying out inspections and dealing with breaches in the law.

Aim

The aim of the council's Enforcement Policy is to ensure that duty holders manage and control risks effectively thus preventing harm. In particular our policy is to:

• Ensure that duty holders take action to deal immediately with serious risks
• Promote and achieve sustained compliance with the law
• Ensure that duty holders who breach health and safety requirements, and directors or managers who fail in their responsibilities, may be held to account, which may include bringing alleged offenders before the courts in the circumstances set out later in this policy.

Enforcement is distinct from civil claims for compensation and is not undertaken in all circumstances where civil claims may be appropriate, nor to assist such claims.

The term "enforcement" has a wide meaning and applies to all dealings between the council and those on whom the law places duties (employers, the self-employed, employees and others).

We have a range of tools at our disposal in seeking to secure compliance with the law and to ensure a proportionate response to criminal offences. Many of our dealings are informal e.g. offering duty holders information and advice both face to face and in writing. This may include warning a duty holder that in the opinion of the inspector, they are failing to comply with the law. Where appropriate our inspectors may also serve improvement and prohibition notices, issue formal cautions and prosecute.

Giving information and advice, issuing improvement or prohibition notices are the primary means used to achieve the broad aim of dealing with serious risks, securing compliance with health and safety law and preventing harm. A prohibition notice stops work in order to prevent serious personal injury. Information on improvement and prohibition notices is publicly available.

Every improvement notice contains a statement that in the opinion of the inspector an offence has been committed. Improvement and prohibition notices and written advice may be cited in court proceedings in England and Wales.

Formal cautions and prosecution are important methods for bringing duty holders to account for alleged breaches of the law. Where it is appropriate to do so in accordance with this policy we will use one of these measures in addition to issuing an improvement or prohibition notice.

Investigation of the circumstances encountered during inspections or following incidents and complaints is essential before any enforcement action can be taken. In deciding what resources to devote to those investigations we will have regard to the principles of enforcement set out below and the objectives published in the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive/Local Authority Liaison Committee ( HELA ) strategic plans. In particular, in allocating resources we will strike a balance between investigations and mainly preventive activity.

Sometimes the law is prescriptive spelling out in detail what must be done. However, much of modern health and safety law is goal setting setting out what must be achieved, but not how it must be done. Advice on how to achieve the goals is often set out in Approved Codes of Practice. These give practical advice on compliance and have a special legal status. If someone is prosecuted for a breach of health and safety law and did not follow the relevant provisions of a Code then the onus is on them to show that they complied with the law in another way. Advice is also contained in other HSC, HSE and HELA guidance material describing good practice. Following this guidance is not compulsory but doing so is normally enough to comply with the law. Neither Codes nor guidance material are in terms that necessarily fit every case. In considering whether the law has been complied with Inspectors will need to take relevant Codes and guidance into account, using sensible judgement about the extent of the risks and the effort that has been applied to counter them.

We will use discretion in deciding when to investigate or what enforcement action may be appropriate. Such judgements will be made in accordance with the following principles that are in accordance with the Enforcement Concordat agreed between the Cabinet, Home and Scottish Offices and local authority associations and which the council has signed.

Where it is reasonable to do so we will endeavour to make provision for the particular interests of our stakeholders within Chester District. For example we may make visits out of normal office hours but at times when the business is open; or we may arrange for interpreters/translations to be available if particular groups of duty holders do not have English as a first language.

Service Planning

The views of residents and users of all our services are valued and wherever possible should be reflected in our Service Planning. If you wish to discuss or comment on our enforcement policy or Service Plan, please do not hesitate to email healthandsafety@chester.gov.uk, or phone  01244 402298.