HSE
Also known as: Health and Safety Executive
The HSE is Great Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety, responsible for enforcement, guidance and RIDDOR reporting.
- The national regulator for workplace health and safety in Great Britain.
- It inspects, investigates, enforces and publishes guidance.
- It also hosts the Building Safety Regulator for higher-risk buildings.
The Health and Safety Executive is the national regulator for workplace health and safety in Great Britain. It was established under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and it does three distinct things: it publishes guidance, it inspects and investigates, and it enforces.
Northern Ireland is regulated separately by HSENI. Lower-hazard workplaces such as offices, shops and hospitality are regulated by local authority environmental health teams rather than the HSE, though construction sits squarely with the HSE.
What it means on a construction site
Construction is one of the HSE’s priority sectors, and unannounced inspection is routine. Inspectors have a right of entry at any reasonable time and do not need an appointment. Targeted campaigns focus on particular risks, such as respiratory exposure or work at height, and sites within scope get visited whether or not anything has gone wrong.
Where an inspector finds a contravention they have a graded set of responses. Verbal or written advice for minor matters. An improvement notice requiring something to be put right within a period, with work continuing meanwhile. A prohibition notice stopping an activity where there is a risk of serious personal injury, which takes effect immediately. And prosecution for the most serious cases.
Alongside those sits Fee for Intervention. Where a material breach is identified, the HSE recovers its costs at an hourly rate for the time spent investigating and following up. That makes an inspection that finds a real problem expensive in itself, before any notice or penalty.
The reporting relationship
Certain events must be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR, including deaths, specified injuries, over-seven-day injuries, some occupational diseases, and a list of dangerous occurrences that must be reported even where nobody was hurt.
Notifiable projects are also notified to the HSE via an F10 under CDM 2015, and the Building Safety Regulator created by the Building Safety Act sits within the HSE.
Being ready
The practical question an inspector asks is not whether you have a policy. It is whether you can show, for this site, that the work was planned, managed and monitored: current RAMS, induction and briefing records, inspection and examination reports, and evidence that identified issues were closed out.
Being able to produce that from the project record on the day, rather than assembling it over the following week, is the difference between a routine visit and a difficult one. That is what Sync’s compliance management and audits are for.
Common questions
What is Fee for Intervention?
Where an HSE inspector identifies a material breach of health and safety law, the HSE recovers its costs from the duty holder at an hourly rate. It covers the inspector's time investigating and taking action, so a visit that finds a material breach carries a direct financial consequence separate from any notice or prosecution.
What is the difference between an improvement and a prohibition notice?
An improvement notice requires a contravention to be put right within a stated period, and work can continue meanwhile. A prohibition notice stops the activity immediately, or from a specified time, because the inspector considers there is a risk of serious personal injury. Prohibition is the more serious of the two.
Do inspectors need to give notice before visiting?
No. HSE inspectors have a right of entry to workplaces at any reasonable time without an appointment, and construction sites are visited unannounced as a matter of routine, often as part of targeted inspection campaigns.
Does the HSE regulate everything?
No. The HSE covers construction, manufacturing, agriculture and higher-hazard sectors. Local authority environmental health teams regulate offices, retail, hospitality and similar. Some events on a construction project are reported to one and some to the other.
More Compliance terms
All 7 in this categoryKeep the paperwork where the work is
Sync keeps your health and safety records against the projects they belong to, with review dates tracked, so the current version is there when someone asks for it.