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Auditing and monitoring of local authorities

Section 18(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) requires that local authorities (LAs) perform their duties in accordance with guidance from the Health and Safety Commission (HSC). This guidance, commonly known as ‘Section 18 guidance’ is therefore mandatory.

Section 18 (4) states: ‘It shall be the duty of every local authority:

(a) to make adequate arrangements for the enforcement within their area of the relevant statutory provisions to the extent that they are by any of those provisions or by regulations under subsection (2) above made responsible for their enforcement; and

(b) to perform the duty imposed on them by the preceeding paragraphs and any other functions conferred on them by any of the relevant statutory provisions in accordance with such guidance as the Commission may give them’.

The guidance notes issued by the HSC under Section 18(4) contain the broad principles that it wishes LAs to adopt in enforcing health and safety legislation. This provides a framework within which LAs should operate so that the HSC can be confident that they are making adequate arrangements for enforcement.

The HSC has asked HELA to monitor the performance of LAs more closely and report back to it on the performance of LAs on a frequent basis. The LAU is carrying out this activity on behalf of HELA. LAU’s auditing and monitoring activity includes:

  • Reviews of LAs’ annual health and safety enforcement returns;
  • Identification of any initiatives and good practice by LAs (e.g from the HELA Award for Innovation and for inclusion in the HELA Annual Report);
  • Analysis of other reports on LAs’ performance, e.g. Best Value inspections, Food Standards Agency audits;
  • Reviews of LAs’ Health and Safety Service Plans;
  • Reviews of LAs’ reports of inter-authority audits and any subsequent action plans; and
  • HELA audits of LAs. HELA will use the information gathered from audits and monitoring to help inform future policy development. Further guidance on auditing and calculating the ‘compliance score’ is now available in LAC23/20. It will also identify areas of good or best practice and disseminate this to LAs.

HELA will use the information gathered from audits and monitoring to help inform future policy development. Further guidance on auditing and calculating the ‘compliance score’ is now available in LAC23/20. It will also identify areas of good or best practice and disseminate this to LAs.