Services, Transportation and Safety Unit

Who we are

Services, Transportation and Safety Unit (STSU) take forward national stakeholder engagement on the private sector service industries, and on conventional safety topics that are found in most industries (e.g. workplace transport).

STSU

• Provide support and guidance for HSE Inspectors and Environmental Health Officers on fieldwork, as well as providing advice on enforcement, inspections and investigations
• Directly support HSE’s programme teams dealing with noise and vibration, slip, trips and falls, and workplace transport, and providing indirect support to HSE’s other programmes (e.g. by facilitating their work in key industries)
• Work with trade associations, unions, other regulators and intermediaries to improve health and safety. This includes developing guidance with industry stakeholders
• Anticipate future health and safety issues and works with stakeholders to agree how to deal with them
• Lead HSE’s work on product safety, including work in Europe, supporting work on European and British Standards
• Analyse industries’ performance and the performance of industry as a whole to help HSE identify where it needs to put resource.

We are organised into five sections:

• Broadcasting and Entertainment / Commercial and Consumer Services Section
• Safety Unit 1
• Safety Unit 2
• Transportation Section
• Utilities Section

STSU Sections

Broadcasting and Entertainment / Commercial and Consumer Services Section

concentrates on hospitality and catering, cleaning and, in time, retail as these are where the greatest problems exist. It also covers all forms of broadcasting and leisure industries, including fairgrounds and coordinating the work of the National Fairgrounds Inspection Team (NFIT).

Safety Unit 1

provides support on the key safety topics of workplace transport and falls from height, including key work on European standards on these issues.

Safety Unit 2

provides support on slips and trips, noise and vibration. Leads on legislation on equipment product safety, and coordinates the work of HSE’s Product Safety Team. Safety Unit 2 also oversee HSE input into Standards and work on key directives.

Transportation Section

covers road haulage, ports, air transport, bus transport and warehousing. As part of this work, it covers work related road risk and leads on HSE’s relationship with the Vehicle Operating and Standards Agency (VOSA), the Traffic Commissioners, the Civil Aviation Authority, Air Accident Investigation Branch, Marine Accident Investigation Branch and Maritime and Coastguard Agency. This section also acts as the head office link to Associated British Ports.

Utilities Section

covers domestic gas safety, electricity and the electricity generation industry, the water industry, postal/parcel services, telecommunications, and confined spaces. It is also the main HSE contact for Royal Mail and manages HSE’s relationship with Centrica and British Telecom.