Who we are

The Local Authority Unit (LAU) is a specifically designated part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) dedicated to developing partnership working between HSE and Local Authorities (LAs).

Staffing the Unit is a team of HSE staff, some of whom have a LA background, Local Authority (LA) Managers and Environmental Health Officers/Practitioners (EHO/EHPs) working for HSE, either contracted or seconded for a fixed period of time. 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 HSC (Health and Safety Commission) objectives in the LA enforced sector.
• Maintainence and development of effective communications between LAs and HSC/E through:
  • the HELA Extranet,
  • the LAU Newsletter
  • liaison with LACoRS and other external stakeholders
  • HSE/LA Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA)
  • Local Government Panel/HSC (LGP/HSC) meetings
  • Liaison with regionally based Partnership teams in HSE*
• Promoting consistency and proportionality of enforcement by LAs
• Aligning of planning processes and timescales between HSE and LAs on major work initiatives such as the Fit3 programmes.

*Partnership working between HSE and LAs is facilitated by 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/maintain effective joint-working arrangements including the development of regional plans across all enforcement sectors. Details of HSEs Partnership Team Managers can be found on the Contacts page of this site.