Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Local authority circulars
To: Directors of Environmental Health/ Chief Environmental Health Officers of London, Metropolitan, District and Unitary Authorities and Chief Executives of County Councils.
For the attention of: Environmental Services / Trading Standards / Fire Authorities / Other
This circular gives advice to local authority enforcement officers
This local authority circular replaces LAC 2/3, issued in February 2000. LAC 2/3 should be deleted, with immediate effect.
| Health and Safety Executive | Operational Circular |
| OC 84/4 |
| Review Date | 9/11/2009 | Open Government Status | Fully Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version No & Date | 1: 09/11/1999 | Author Unit/Section | FOD FSU |
To
All HSE Inspectors
1 The Employment Relations Directorate (ERD) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) enforces the Employment Agencies Act 1973 (EAA) and supporting regulations. These include provisions that an employment agency involved in employing or placing workers should only supply workers to carry out tasks for which they are suitable. Failure to do this could leave the agency open to prosecution under DTI legislation in the event of a serious incident.
2 Concerns have been raised that the DTI may not find out about such incidents until some time after they have occurred. This can cause problems since there is a 6-month time limit for initiating legal proceedings under the EAA.
3 HSE Solicitors Office has advised that there is no legal reason why HSE could not provide information on relevant incidents to the DTI. We have, therefore, agreed to do this with respect to serious incidents.
4 If inspectors become aware of any incident in which:
(1) a worker is either killed or sustains a reportable major injury whilst at work, and
(2) that worker was employed (or effectively employed) by an employment agency at the time of the incident,
they should arrange for the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (part of the ERD) to be informed as quickly as possible. Details of how to contact the Inspectorate and the information that should be provided are given at the appendix.
5 This procedure only needs to be followed when information that an employment agency may be involved becomes available either from the initial incident report, or from further enquiries made by an inspector. There is no need for inspectors to seek out this information if the accident would not normally be selected for investigation.
6 Determining employment status can be difficult and it may not always be clear whether or not a person involved in an incident is in fact employed by an employment agency for the purposes of the EAA. The principal purpose of this OC is to ensure that information is provided as quickly as possible. In cases of doubt, a report should be made to the DTI indicating that there is some uncertainty over employment status. This uncertainty can then be resolved as any subsequent investigations progress.
7 There are 2 particular employment issues that inspectors should note:
(1) The EAA does not extend to agencies who supply registered nurses or midwives. There is therefore no need to inform DTI of incidents involving these groups of workers. These agencies may, however, also supply ancillary health care workers such as nursing auxiliaries; incidents involving these groups will fall within the scope of these arrangements.
(2) Agricultural workers provided by gangmasters may be classified as agency workers depending on the terms of the hiring arrangements.
8 In order that investigations and any ensuing enforcement action can be properly coordinated, the DTI has agreed to keep the notifying inspector informed if it proposes to act on the information provided by HSE/LA.
9 In particular, DTI has agreed that it will not take legal proceedings without first discussing this with the HSE/LA inspector dealing with the incident. This is particularly important in situations where HSE/LA may also be considering proceedings in relation to the same incident. Close liaison will be necessary so that any decision is coordinated and timely, any subsequent legal proceedings meet the statutory functions of all of the parties and are in line with the Code for Crown Prosecutors (file 168), and potential difficulties in court, eg defence submissions of double jeopardy, are avoided.
10 If inspectors experience any difficulties with respect to coordination which cannot be resolved locally, they should discuss this with their line manager. If necessary, line managers can then raise the concerns directly with the Chief Inspector of Employment Agency Standards using one of the contact methods listed at the appendix.
1 Details of relevant incidents should be reported as soon as possible to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate by any of the following means:
| Tel: | 020 7215 5788 |
| Fax: | 020 7215 2636 |
| e:mail: | mailbox.ir2@irdv.dti.gov.uk |
2 As many of the following details as possible should be provided:
(1) name of the injured person;
(2) place where the incident occurred;
(3) name and address of the employment agency;
(4) brief details of the accident and injuries sustained; and
(5) name and telephone number of the HSE/LA inspector dealing with the incident (indicating whether HSE/LA proposes to investigate the incident).