National Enforcement Code

The HSE’s statutory National Enforcement Code for local authorities came into force in 2013 and targets proactive council inspections by environmental health officers on “higher risk” activities in specified sectors, or when there is intelligence that workplaces are putting employees or the public at risk. The statutory code explicitly outlaws proactive inspections outside “high risk areas” by both the HSE and local authority regulators and exempts hundreds of thousands of businesses from “burdensome” health and safety inspections. Businesses are now only inspected if they are operating in high-risk areas, such as construction, or if they have a poor safety record.

If “low-risk” businesses believe they are being unreasonably targeted, they can complain to an independent panel, which will investigate and issue a public judgment. The HSE will “work with” local authorities whose targeting of inspections fails to meet the standards set out.