Concerns about workplace health and safety

Employers must ensure they meet basic standards of health and safety. This includes providing essential welfare facilities for employees and ensuring work activities don’t create risks to either their employees or others, such as members of the public.

Is HSE the correct enforcing authority for you?

HSE is responsible for enforcing health and safety at workplaces including:

• factories
• farms
• building sites
• nuclear installations
• mines
• schools and colleges
• fairgrounds
• gas, electricity and water systems
• hospitals and nursing homes
• central and local government premises
• offshore installations

HSE may not be the correct enforcing authority to deal with your concerns.

Local authorities are responsible for enforcing health and safety in:

• offices (except government offices)
• shops
• hotels
• restaurants
• leisure premises
• nurseries and playgroups
• pubs and clubs
• museums (privately owned)
• places of worship
• sheltered accommodation and care homes

There are also other enforcing authorities that may be able to help:

Concern	Enforcing body
Poor food hygiene	Environmental Health Department (Local Authority)
Pollution, including nuisance noise	Environmental Health (Local Authority)
Problems with goods and services you have bought	Trading Standards (LA)
Road, highways and pavements	Highways Department (LA)
Unstable/dangerous buildings	Building Control (LA)
Road traffic issues	Police
Roadworthiness of vehicles	VOSA
Railway safety	Office of Rail Regulation (ORR)
Waste disposal, contaminated ground, some air pollution issues	Environment Agency
Care of patients in the NHS	Patient Advisory Liaison Services
Patient care in the NHS	Care Quality Commission
Employment issues, including bullying and harassment at work	ACAS
Repairs of council owned property	Ombudsman

You can find contact details for the above by visiting: www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/index.htm

How can you resolve your concerns?

If you are an employee and you think the law is being broken, or minimum standards are ignored within your workplace, you can:

• speak to your employer and try to resolve the issue; and/or
• contact your work/safety representative, or your trade union safety representative who can try to resolve the issue for you.

If the matter is not satisfactorily resolved, you can raise it with the relevant enforcing authority.

If you are a member of the public and you think a person’s health and safety is being put at risk, you can directly contact their employer to raise your concern with them.

How should you inform HSE of your concern?

If you have a concern about a workplace HSE enforces try the relevant topic or industry section to see whether your concern needs addressing.

If you still have questions or want to inform HSE of your concerns contact HSE’s Infoline on 0845 345 0055.

Remember, HSE is not responsible for enforcing health and safety in all industries.

You will need to provide:

• your name, address and contact details;
• the name and address of the workplace or activity you are concerned about;
• a description of your concern, including who is at risk and why, if the risk is happening now, how long it is likely to go on for, how often it happens and when and where any incident occurred; and
• details about what you have done to try and resolve the issue.

What happens after a complaint is made to HSE?

HSE has a standard procedure for handling complaints to ensure a consistent approach is followed.

HSE defines a complaint as:

‘A concern, originating from outside HSE, in relation to a work activity for which HSE is the enforcing authority, and which provides details relating to:

• the person responsible for health and safety and the location where the incident took place
• the harm caused or potential risk that could cause harm
• the denial of any basic employee welfare facilities
• if there has been a significant breach of law.’

HSE prioritises the way in which it deals with complaints about health and safety and so not all complaints will be investigated. In particular, HSE will not investigate where:

• the complainant wishes to remain anonymous to HSE and will not allow HSE to disclose that a complaint has been received
• the complaint has not been taken up with the person responsible for health and safety or their trade union (unless it involves a a person who needs special consideration in the first instance
• the person responsible cannot be identified
• there are no reasonably practicable precautions
• it is impracticable to do so

HSE is unable to help you get compensation or resolve problems of civil law.