Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help improve safety at motorsport events.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations provide a framework for securing the health, safety and welfare of those working in the motorsports industry. Employers and the self-employed are required to comply with this law. A further duty is placed on them by Regulation 3 of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the risks to those employees and non-employees in relation to risks arising from conduct of their undertaking and share the significant findings.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) holds the national policy lead for occupational health and safety in the leisure industry, including recreational motorsports, however, local authorities (LAs) are primarily responsible for enforcing health and safety law at individual events. HSE regularly liaises with colleagues from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) who also have an interest in this topic.

HSE and DCMS attend the LA motorsports forum which meets quarterly online. A number of the motorsports authorising bodies have presented to this group to raise awareness of key topics. HSE and the forum have produced a best practice aide-memoire for LA regulatory visits. This document is under final LA consultation before moving to publication shortly.

HSE seeks to promote safety at events by making practical advice and guidance available for organisers of motorsport events. The HSE publication ‘Managing health and safety at motorsports events’ describes the main risks at motorsport events and some of the steps that can safeguard the health and safety of employees, participants, and spectators. This guidance is made freely available by HSE at https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg112.pdf