Inspection

Introduction

Purpose

To provide a common, transparent procedure for HSE’s Operations Group staff to inspect duty holders’ undertakings consistently and enable HSE to fulfil its duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Scope

This procedure covers inspection by HSE warranted inspectors for ensuring legal compliance and promoting health and safety, including inspections associated with verifying permissioning requirements. It includes inspection of work activities undertaken by contractors, service providers, or others acting on behalf of the duty holder or in the vicinity of their undertaking, where this is relevant to the purpose of the inspection or to the duty holder’s activity.

It does not cover activities relating to investigations, complaint follow up or permissioning, which are the subject of other procedures.

Policy

HSE will use inspection, within a legal framework of duties, standards, and sanctions, to obtain assurance that duty holders adequately control health and safety risks from work activities and meet relevant statutory provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Definition

Inspection is the process carried out by HSE warranted inspectors which involves assessing relevant documents held by the duty holder, interviewing people and observing site conditions, standards and practices where work activities are carried out under the duty holders control. Its purpose is to secure compliance with legal requirements for which HSE is the enforcing authority and to promote improving standards of health and safety in organisations.

Roles

Line Managers should:

manage the work of their inspectors to achieve set objectives
support and guide their inspectors as necessary

Inspectors should:

Apply their knowledge and skills to promote compliance of legal requirements by duty holders and to influence them to improve their management of health and safetyapply their knowledge and skills to promote compliance of legal requirements by duty holders and to influence them to improve their management of health and safety

Responsibilities

Line managers are responsible for:

ensuring that HSE’s strategic plans are reflected in appropriate inspection programmes
nominating and assigning competent inspectors
ensuring that competent inspectors carry out inspections
ensuring that inspection programmes are met in timely fashion

Inspection staff and inspection team leaders are responsible for:

ensuring inspections are planned, carried out, and reported effectively
following the appropriate enforcement decision making procedure where they identify a requirement for enforcement action
meeting performance standards allotted to them within the procedure or discussing with line management to agree revised performance standards when necessary.

Procedure overview

An overview of the procedure is provided in the attached flowchart.

Monitoring

Line managers should ensure, via normal management activity, that those involved in operating this procedure carry out their responsibilities in line with the standards and timescales described. They should make sufficient documented checks to satisfy themselves, and to prove to any subsequent audits, that the procedure is being operated correctly.

Managing for health and safety