The Food and Occupational Safety team

The Food and Occupational Safety team aim to ensure that health and safety standards are met, for both the workforce and members of the public within a number of different premises and at events. We do this by a number of different methods including advice to business/employees/public, proactive risk based inspections, investigation of accidents/complaints and awareness raising campaigns.

Contact the team >

Health and safety is a very broad term and it covers a wide range of different activities and businesses. The duty of enforcing health and safety in the borough is split between local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive, each having responsibility towards different business sectors some of these are listed in the below table.

Local Authority	Health and Safety Executive
Retail outlets	Manufacturers
Wholesale warehouses	Construction
Office accommodation	Fairgrounds
Leisure facilities	Agricultural premises
Catering establishments	Medical facilities
Music events	Local government buildings

As well as general health and safety matters the Local authority are also involved in the regulation of certain specific activities within the above business sectors such as asbestos, cooling towers, skin piercing, sunbed safety and smokefree. 

Legislation

We enforce a wide range of legislation relating to health and safety, however the main legislation which covers all workplaces is the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974. You can obtain a copy of this act by clicking on the above link or more general advice by following the links at the base of the page.  

Inspections

We carry out proactive inspections of businesses to ensure that they are meeting the relevant health and safety standards. We also carry out reactive inspections which are driven by accidents, complaints and other information gathered. Inspections are unannounced and risk rated to allow for higher risk activities and serious accidents to be prioritised.

Advice for employees

• All employees at work are entitled to a safe and healthy environment.

• Comprehensive information is available on the HSE website.

• Employers have a legal duty to consult with their employees regarding issues to do with health and safety in the workplace.

• Every employer must also display a poster or distribute a leaflet to employees setting out basic information on health and safety law.

If you feel the issue is particularly serious or urgent you can contact us on the below details or the HSE directly on 0113 283 4200

If you are concerned about general working conditions we recommend you should raise this initially with your manager, the owner of the business or an employee health and safety representative if there is one appointed. Having done this and no action is taken or the response to your complaint is poor you are welcome to contact us. If we do investigate your concerns we will ensure that this is done maintaining confidentiality of your details.

Advice for businesses

We will endeavour to provide free advice on health and safety to businesses who request it. If the information you are looking for is not in our web pages below you can contact us or the health and safety executive on 0151 951 4000 for further advice.

Advice for the public

The Health and Safety at Work Act applies mainly to work activities by employees and the safety of members of the public at work places, this includes shops, public buildings and leisure facilities. If you believe you are (or have been) exposed to any serious risk as a member of the public posed by a work place you can contact us or the Health and Safety Executive on 0151 951 4000 for advice.