Health and Safety Executive/Local Authorities Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA)

New Enforcement Guide (England and Wales) and Enforcement Handbook Scotland

1 The Enforcement Handbook for England and Wales is now out of date and should no longer be used. It has been replaced by the new 'Enforcement Guide' (England and Wales) (EG). The EG is new and essential guidance for LA inspectors, supporting the HSC's Enforcement Policy Statement (EPS) and Section 18 Guidance to LA's. It supersedes the "Enforcement Handbook" for England and Wales, originally issued in hard copy to LAs but subsequently updated and made available to authorised LA officers on the 'closed' (password protected) pages of the HSE LAU/HELA website.

2 Please note that the Enforcement Handbook for Scotland is still current material. Work is being done to revise this guidance in line with the English and Welsh model. An updated version is expected in the near future.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Handbook for Scotland is still only available on the LAU Closed Website. Disclosure of Information from this site is restricted to authorised local authority (LA) officers with health and safety enforcement responsibilities under section 28 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Its contents must not be disclosed to any other persons.

NB. Enforcing Authorities are advised to have a system in place to ensure only authorised staff have approved access to the information on the closed site. This should be included as part of the induction training for all new staff.

3 The Enforcement Guide is now an open document available only on HSE's open website. This should not be re-produced as a printed copy as the EG will be updated regularly under a maintenance programme run by HSE's Solicitor's Office (SO). A feedback facility in the Guide also allows users to notify SO of any issue they feel needs clarification.

Instructions

4 The following instructions have been provided by HSE's Solicitors Department:

All paper copies of the Enforcement Handbook for England and Wales only must be cancelled and destroyed. SO will keep a reference copy.

The EG has also replaced HSE's Legal Proceedings Code (or 'LP' Code) and any copies or material from this should already have been destroyed.

SO's guidance on the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) is now contained within the EG.

5 The EG is supported by a wide range of relevant guidance. However, whilst users within HSE are also able to access this guidance via internal hyperlinks in the EG, LA officers cannot use these links as they are unable to access HSE's Intranet, due to its GSI (Government Secure Intranet) status.

6 LAU is discussing how LAs' access to HSE's information can be improved, as part of the wider issue of developing a closer partnership with LAs. Many of the supporting documents (e.g. HSC's Enforcement Policy Statement) are available electronically to LAs on the HSE website, LA officers should therefore use this route first, before contacting their local ELO for further advice on specific issues.

7 It is also emphasised that very little information in the Enforcement Guide is now restricted. Any that is, is clearly identified in the version on the HSE website. For example, page http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcementguide/pretrial/witness-defence.htm clearly indicates that paragraph 4 has been omitted, relying on Exemption 4 - Law Enforcement and Legal Proceedings. If it is suspected that guidance relevant to a particular situation is restricted, LA officers should contact their ELO.

Futher information

8 In the event of further difficulties, please contact lau.enquiries@hse.gsi.gov.uk or telephone 020 7717 6442.

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