Health and Safety Executive: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=SeptemberOctober 20122020}}

The '''Health and Safety Executive''' ('''HSE''') is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of [[occupational safety and health|workplace health, safety and welfare]], and for research into occupational [[risk]]s in [[Great Britain]]. It is a [[non-departmental public body]] of the [[United Kingdom]] with its headquarters in [[Bootle]], England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/maps/index.htm |title=HSE offices |publisher=Health & Safety Executive |accessdate=2012-04-07}}</ref> In [[Northern Ireland]], these duties lie with the [[Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland]]. The HSE was created by the [[Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974]], and has since absorbed earlier regulatory bodies such as the Factory Inspectorate and the [[Railway Inspectorate]] though the Railway Inspectorate was transferred to the [[Office of Rail and Road]] in April 2006.<ref name="HSE Timeline">{{cite web |last1=Health and Safety Executive |title=The history of HSE |url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/timeline/index.htm |website=hse.gov.uk |accessdate=11 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130120334/http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/timeline/index.htm |archive-date=30 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The HSE is sponsored by the [[Department for Work and Pensions]]. As part of its work, HSE investigates industrial accidents, small and large, including major incidents such as the explosion and fire at [[2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal fire|Buncefield]] in 2005. Though it formerly reported to the [[Health and Safety Commission]], on 1 April 2008, the two bodies merged.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 April 2008 |title=Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive merge to form a single regulatory body |author=Department for Work and Pensions |url=http://www.dwpc.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2008/apr/emp070-010408.asp |accessdate=2008-04-06 }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Legislative Reform (Health and Safety Executive) Order 2008, [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20c080960_en_1 SI 2008/960]</ref>

The Railway Inspectorate was transferred to HSE in 1990. On 1 April 2006, the Executive ceased to have responsibility for railway safety, when the Railway Inspectorate was transferred to the Office of Rail Regulation (now the Office of Rail and Road).<ref>[[Railways Act 2005]], ss.2, 60/ Sch.3 para.3(1)(b)(2); Railways Act 2005 (Commencement No.5) Order 2006, [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060266.htm SI 2006/266, art.2(2), Sch.]</ref>

* 3 July 1995 -– 30 Sept 2000: Jennifer (Jenny) Helen Bacon CB (b. 16 April 1945)

* 1 October 2000 -– November 2005: [[Timothy Edward Hanson Walker]] CB (b. 27 July 1945)

* November 2005 - 31 March 2008: Geoffrey John Freeman Podger CB (b. 3 August 1952)

* Dame Judith Elizabeth Hackitt CBE (b. 1 December 1954) 1 April 2008 -– 31 March 2016

* Geoffrey John Freeman Podger CB (b. 3 August 1952) 1 April 2008 -– 31 August 2013

* (Denis) Kevin Myers CBE (b. 30 September 1954) Acting Chief Executive 1 September 2013 -– 9 November 2014

* Richard Judge (b. 2 November 1962) 10 November 2014 -– 17 August 2018 <ref name="Richard Judge resign">{{cite web |last1=Knutt |first1=Elaine |title=HSE's Richard Judge steps down as annual report shows drop in prosecutions |url=https://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/news-and-prosecution/hse-richard-judge-steps-down-annual-report-shows-drop-prosecutions |website=healthandsafetyatwork.com |accessdate=11 August 2019 |language=en |date=20 August 2018}}</ref>

* David Snowball Acting Chief Executive 15 June 2018 -– 1 September 2019 <ref name="Richard Judge resign"/><ref name="Sarah Albon Hired"/>

* Sarah Albon 1 September 2019 - date <ref name="Sarah Albon Hired">{{Cite web|url=https://press.hse.gov.uk/2019/06/27/new-chief-executive-for-hse/|title=New Chief Executive for HSE|last=Green|first=Jason|date=2019-06-27|website=HSE Media Centre|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-07-29}}</ref>

Some of the criticism of HSE has been that its procedures are inadequate to protect safety. For example, the public enquiry by Lord Gill into the [[Stockline Plastics factory explosion]] criticised the HSE for "inadequate appreciation of the risks associated with buried LPG pipework…and a failure properly to carry out check visits".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/hse-response-to-stockline-too-little-too-late-1.826334|title=HSE response to Stockline 'too little, too late'|publisherwork=Daily Herald|date=30 August 2009|accessdate=2010-12-19}}</ref> However, most criticism of the HSE is that their regulations are over-broad, suffocating, and part of a [[nanny state]]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' has claimed that the HSE is part of a "[[compensation culture]]," that it is undemocratic and unaccountable,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2009/12/david-cameron-declares-war-on-the-nonsense-of-the-overthetop-health-and-safety-culture.html |title=David Cameron declares war on the "nonsense" of the "over-the-top health and safety culture" The Tory Diary |publisher=Conservativehome.blogs.com |date=2009-12-01 |accessdate=2014-08-13}}</ref> and that its rules are costing jobs.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7966428/Health-and-safety-laws-are-costing-jobs.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Deputy | last=Political | title=Health and safety laws are costing jobs | date=27 August 2010}}</ref>

However, the HSE denies this,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jun/30/judith-hackitt-health-safety-work | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Jane | last=Dudman | title=Dispelling the {{sic|myths |hide=y|around}} health and safety | date=30 June 2010}}</ref> saying that much of the criticism is misplaced because it relates to matters outside the HSE's remit. The HSE also responded to criticism by publishing a "Myth of the Month" section on its website between 2007 and 2010, which it described as "exposing the various myths about ‘health'health and safety’safety'".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/ |title=Busting the health and safety myths |publisher=Hse.gov.uk |date=2014-06-30 |accessdate=2014-08-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2007/gnnwm09907.htm |title=HSE and local authorities hit back at ‘health'health and Safety’Safety' myths |publisher=HSE |date=3 July 2007 |accessdate=2010-12-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605075631/http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2007/gnnwm09907.htm |archive-date=5 June 2011 }}</ref> This has become a political issue in the UK. The [[Common Sense, Common Safety|Lord Young report]], published in October 2010, recommended various reforms aiming "to free businesses from unnecessary bureaucratic burdens and the fear of having to pay out unjustified damages claims and legal fees."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/402906_CommonSense_acc.pdf |title=Common Sense Common Safety: A report by Lord Young of Graffham to the Prime Minister |publisher=HM Government |page=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920234109/http://www.number10.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/402906_CommonSense_acc.pdf |archive-date=20 September 2012 }}</ref>