start of content
Health and Safety
Health and Safety in
Newham
Our Health and Safety team work closely
with our Licensing Team.
This is often needed for outdoor or temporary events
where large numbers of people may be directly affected by the
activities involved.
We are the enforcing authority in many varied premises including
the retail, hotel, leisure and exhibition sectors as well as
offices and warehousing activities.
We are also the enforcing authority for other service industries
such as tyre and exhaust centres and skin piercers.
We are often contacted regarding premises that fall outside of our
responsibility. In such cases we identify and notify the
appropriate enforcing authority on behalf of the person making the
enquiry.
Employers and premises
Our role is to
regulate employers and premises to ensure that they meet the
requirements placed upon them by Health and Safety legislation and
to investigate failures to meet the required standards as they
occur and are notified to the local authority.
Compliance with statutory requirements is done by carrying out a
programme of inspections prioritised according to the potential
risk within the premises.
We assess these risks by identifying particular hazards in the
activities, procedures and conditions within the particular
premises; by the identification of people who may be at risk and by
the risk-management standards within the premises.
We also investigate complaints and deal with requests for service
within the premises for which we have responsibility - this
includes complaints concerning poor working conditions and requests
for advice in particular areas of health and safety.
Accidents and dangerous occurences
We receive notifications of accidents and dangerous occurrences and
investigate some of these incidents usually according to the
severity of the accident and the likelihood of it recurring.
Where we have investigated an accident we will provide expert
reports on that investigation. We do however charge a fee for this
service.
The powers available to the inspectors are wide and include powers
to prohibit particular activities or the use of certain premises if
there is a serious and imminent risk to health.
We can also require works to be done within a specified time or
instigate prosecutions for serious breaches of legislation.
Enforcement
The aim of the enforcement team is to achieve safe working
conditions within premises by giving comprehensive information and
guidance.
Enforcement action will be taken where such intervention has failed
or where the conditions are of such a serious nature that it is
considered to be in the public interest to prosecute.
All prosecutions and the enforcement notices that may affect
members of the public are kept in a public register available for
inspection at any reasonable time.
European Health and Safety Week and
Pubwatch
Our role includes that of providing information on heath and safety
which we do via various media, including taking part in European
week of Health and Safety and exhibiting material in various parts
of the borough.
We also attend business groups such as Pubwatch where we provide
health and safety information for
employers. |