Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Operational procedures
This procedure describes how HSE handles major incidents from receiving notification of a potential major incident, the investigation process itself and the delivery of a final report. A subsidiary procedure describes the process of reviewing HSE's major incident policy and procedure.
This procedure sets out HSE's corporate arrangements for responding to and investigating major incidents.
This procedure applies to incidents that are subject to an investigation by HSE under Section 14(2)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It applies to an HSC direction to HSE to investigate an incident and also to incidents designated as "major" by the Executive.
A major incident is defined as a significant event, which demands a response beyond the routine,resulting from uncontrolled developments in the course of the operation of any establishment or transient work activity.
The event may either cause, or have the potential to cause, either:
Events which, taken in isolation, may not warrant classification as major incidents, may do so when considered together.
Significance is determined by the severity of the incident, the degree of public concern and the nature and extent of HSE's previous involvement with the duty holder(s).
The nature and extent of HSE's previous involvement would not normally, on its own, result in an incident being declared as 'major'.
HSE's policy is to have an effective and efficient system for responding to major incidents, which is proportionate to the circumstances.
The requirements are:
It is also HSE's policy to conduct major incident investigation policy and procedure reviews, independent of the major incident investigation, and to report on them to the extent necessary to:
Any lessons to be learned from the policy and procedure review will be considered by the Executive and appropriate action taken to ensure any improvements to existing arrangements are implemented within a specified timescale.
HSE aims to set and maintain exemplary standards of health and safety performance to ensure the health and safety at work of all its employees, as stated in the Staff Handbook.
This means having in place effective management arrangements for staff health and safety implemented by all managers, team leaders and line managers for staff affected by the Major Incident investigation. Staff can be affected either directly in the investigation, following the investigation or affected as a result of their prior involvement, e.g. stress. Measures must be implemented that ensure the well being of staff and that best practice relevant to and proportionate to the risks HSE staff face are implemented.
Information about major incidents will be made available as far as the law prescribes.
Where improvements in health and safety would benefit from release of information the Executive, after advice from HSE's Legal Advisers, will authorise release of relevant anonymised information.
Where disclosure of information might prejudice an investigation or enforcement action (whether by HSE or another body), the risk of such prejudice will be balanced against the need for openness in deciding how much information can properly be disclosed and how soon.
When the incident is a civil contingencies event, HSE's initial response will be as a category 2 responder in accordance with its obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. If the major incident occurs at a site regulated by HSE then following the termination of the emergency response HSE will activate the investigation arrangements as appropriate.
For individual ease of use, roles and responsibilities are arranged on separate pages for the following:
The investigation report is prepared for the Executive by the Investigation Manager, or in the case of an HSWA Section 14(2)(a) investigation, for the HSC.
The report should be submitted to the Executive within 3 months of the completion of the investigation (this excludes waiting for the completion of enforcement action).
Publication of the report will be at the discretion of the Executive, following discussion with HSE's Legal Adviser.
The policy and procedure review report details the findings of the review.
The report will deal also with a broader examination of the adequacy of HSE's arrangements for dealing with duty holders of the type in question, if requested by the Executive.
The report should be submitted to the Executive within one month of the completing of the review, unless agreed otherwise after consultation with the Executive.
The policy and procedure review report will be made available to the public only after all legal action is complete, and the period of time for appeal (6 months) has passed.
Each Director/Head of Division will produce an annual programme for testing and monitoring their detailed plans to implement the corporate major incident response arrangements over the next work year. They will also report on the outcome of the previous year's testing programme with a view to sharing experiences and learning from them.
Both of these are to be sent to the Head of OPSD by 1 February each year.
Real incidents may be used as alternatives to the planned annual test providing performance is reviewed against established criteria.
Where Directorates/Divisions have no major operational responsibilities then they may, with the agreement of the Directorate/Division concerned, link their scenario tests with another Directorate/Division rather than organising an independent programme of their own.
The Head of OPSD, acting on behalf of the MIPG, will organise a scenario test of the HSE Major Incident Response Procedures.
The test is carried out annually or at intervals agreed by the Executive/Board. The test involves more than one Directorate/Division and may be incorporated within any Directorate/Division test as agreed with that Directorate/Division. A report of the results of the test is provided to the Deputy Director General (Operations).
All tests and reviews, carried out at whatever level, must meet a set of agreed testing criteria.
The Executive monitors the implementation and effectiveness of the major incident response arrangements annually through the receipt of a paper produced by the MIPG, and as appropriate in the circumstances of each major incident investigation.
HSE's internal audit unit includes within their programme the audit of the HSE major incident response arrangements and Directorate/Division arrangements. It is the responsibility of the relevant Director or Head of Division to implement the recommendations of the audit.
The Major Incident Response and Investigation procedure will be reviewed by the Executive every 3 years.