How the partnership works

Local authorities operate in partnership with HSE to ensure that duty holders manage their workplaces with due regard to the health and safety of their workforce and those affected by their work activities. To achieve this, local authorities, as with HSE, provide advice and guidance on what the law requires, conduct inspections and investigations, and take enforcement action where appropriate.

HSE and Local Authority Representative Bodies have recently published a Statement of Commitment which sets out the joint commitment to ensure provision of adequate standards of partnership working in order to prevent death, injury and ill health of those at work and those affected by work activities.  The full statement also lays out the HSE/LA Partnership structure in detail and explains the difference between HSE and Local Government Regulation (LG Regulation). 

• Statement of commitment between HSE and Local Authority representative bodies

The Local Authority Unit (LAU) is a specifically designated part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) dedicated to facilitating partnership working between HSE and local authorities (LAs). Staffing the Unit is a team of HSE staff, some of whom have an LA background. This ensures there is an equal LA/HSE perspective on all Health and Safety developments and innovations.

LAU's principal roles and responsibilities are as follows:

• Promoting partnership working between HSE and LAs
• Supporting LAs in delivering the strategy objectives in the LA enforced sector
• Maintaining and developing effective communications between LAs and HSC/E through:
  • the HELA Extranet (login required)
  • the Partnership News service
  • liaison with Local Government Regulation (LG Regulation) and other external stakeholders
  • HSE/LA Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA)
  • HSE/Local Government Panel (HSE/LGP) meetings
  • Liaison with regionally based Partnership teams in HSE.
• Promoting consistency and proportionality of enforcement by LAs
• Aligning planning processes and timescales between HSE and LAs on major work initiatives
• Partnership working between HSE and LAs is facilitated by LAU and regionally based Partnership Teams. These cover all of the geographical regions in HSE's Field Operations Directorate (FOD) within Great Britain. Their role involves working with LAs at a high level to further develop and maintain effective joint working arrangements. They aim to make the best use of our respective strengths and apply collective resources in the best way to tackle national, regional and local priorities for health and safety. You will find contact details of HSEs Partnership Team Managers on the HELA Extranet