Health and safety at work

Employers have a duty of care to ensure the health and safety of their employees and others who could be affected by the work activity.

Enforcement of health and safety regulation in the UK is either the responsibility of the relevant local authority or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), depending on the work activity. Generally speaking, the HSE enforce the higher risk workplaces, such as construction and manufacturing.

As part of our Environmental Health function, we are responsible for enforcing health and safety regulation in around 1,800 workplaces across Oxford, such as shops, warehouses, cafes and offices. As part of this function we investigate health and safety complaints and accidents at work.

Health and safety advice

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website contains a wealth of health and safety information and advice including:

• practical health and safety advice for businesses on how to control health and safety risk at work - this includes information on how to conduct risk assessments and gives examples of completed risk assessments for different workplaces
• sector specific health and safety codes of practice and guidance

Gas Safe Register

All people carrying out works to gas systems and appliances must be suitably qualified and competent to carry out the work safely and must be registered with the Gas Safe Register.

The Gas Safe Register website can be used to search for Gas Safe Registered companies and individuals near you and also includes pictures of engineers for peace of mind.

Reporting accidents at work

Employers are responsible for reporting some accidents, illnesses and incidents that happen at work under The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).

More information on the RIDDOR process is available on the HSE website.

If you aren't sure whether the workplace in question is enforced by us or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or need some further information about raising health and safety concerns directly with your employer, then please see the HSE website for further information. These pages also contain the details of how to report a concern to the HSE.

If you would like to report a health and safety complaint or concern to us, please contact us.

See our Corporate Enforcement Policy for more information.