Workplace health and safety legislation is a matter which is reserved to the UK Parliament. The power to make or change health and safety legislation has not been devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
The Health and Safety Commission and Executive (HSC and HSE) are therefore part of the UK Department for Work and Pensions. But HSC and HSE work closely with the Scottish Executive particularly in areas of common interest such as health, enterprise and justice which are devolved to the Scottish Parliament. This is set out in a concordat agreed at the time of devolution.
HSE has over 300 staff in Scotland based in offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. As well as inspecting and enforcing the law in Scottish businesses, we also respond from within Scotland to enquiries and correspondence from Scottish people and their representatives in the Scottish Parliament and at Westminster. HSE’s Director and spokesperson for Scotland is Stewart Campbell. Stewart is also Head of HSE’s Field Operations Directorate in Scotland.
The Field Operations Directorate covers the main employment areas of construction, agriculture, manufacturing, quarries, services, health and education and has staff in Scotland based in offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
Rail health, safety and welfare regulatory responsibility passed from HSE to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) in April 2006, although ORR staff are still based in HSE offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow. For more information please go to www.rail-reg.gov.uk.
Hazardous Installations Directorate, Chemical Industries Division covers onshore petrochemcial and related industries and is based in the Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen offices.
Hazardous Installations Directorate, Offshore Division covers health and safety on the oil rigs and is based in the Aberdeen office.
Nuclear Safety Directorate is based in Bootle HQ from where Scottish nuclear installations are covered.
Health and safety law is the same across Great Britain. But there is a major difference in how crime is prosecuted. HSE inspectors in Scotland report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), who decide whether or not to institute criminal proceedings in the public interest. COPFS supports the HSC Enforcement Policy Statement. This is in contrast to HSE inspectors in England and Wales who have the power to prosecute. The way in which reports from HSE are dealt with by the Procurator Fiscal under Scottish law can result in charges put forward by HSE being rejected as a whole, or in part, or in different charges being created. The Fiscal can also accept "not guilty" pleas to some charges when "guilty" pleas are offered to other charges. For this reason Scotland's enforcement statistics cannot easily be compared with England and Wales; and unlike in England and Wales, penalties for health and safety offences in Scotland do not allow for the awarding of costs to either party.
We are currently implementing HSC’s strategy and the HSE programmes of work that flow from it within the context of Scottish employment sectors, economy and culture which are different in some important respects to England or Wales.
To help us do this we are setting up a health and safety committee for Scotland based on the outcomes of a major conference for stakeholders held in February 2005 [71kb]
. As well as HSE, membership includes Local Authorities, the Scottish Executive, the CBI, the STUC, individual trade unions, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Centre for Healthy Working Lives, and occupational health and safety professionals. The partnership will be chaired by Margaret Burns, Health and Safety Commissioner.
The Scottish media is distinctive and influential. HSE aims to work with it to promote the positive benefits of sensible health and safety, as well as to be accessible in the way we respond to increasing public interest in health and safety matters in Scotland. We also wish to challenge inaccurate portrayals of HSE’s work, for example that we are over cautious in expecting all risks to be eliminated when in fact the law requires risks to people’s health and safety to be assessed and controlled. HSE works with the Government News Network (GNN) on media relations who, for example, issue press releases on our behalf.