Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many inspections have the Health and Safety Executive conducted by sector in each year since 2008.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the number of inspections, by year and by sector, carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for each financial year since 2017. HSE’s data deletion policy only allows for retention of detailed inspection data for up to 7 years, therefore data before 2017 can be found on Gov.uk website.
The figures below are based on raw live data and can be subject to change due to updates to historical cases. Therefore these figures may differ to the figures published in the Annual Reports.
‘Sector’ as used in this table is a term used by HSE internally and is a categorisation of the main economic activity of a workplace. The figures below include inspections to major hazard sites. A breakdown by sector is not always published in the Annual Reports as the focus will be on the respective priorities of business plan for that work year.
Year Inspected | ||||||
Sector | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Agriculture | 574 | 773 | 708 | 229 | 405 | 868 |
Construction | 7,872 | 7,472 | 5,004 | 4,582 | 6,134 | 6,146 |
Extractive Utilities | 135 | 42 | 40 | 148 | 44 | 86 |
Manufacturing | 6,068 | 5,289 | 4,322 | 6,080 | 5,729 | 5,417 |
Services | 3,304 | 3,195 | 2,291 | 3,717 | 3,426 | 2,959 |
Unknown | 7 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Water/Waste Management | 1,626 | 1,418 | 1,148 | 2,225 | 1,258 | 1,434 |
Total | 19,586 | 18,194 | 13,514 | 16,985 | 17,000 | 16,912 |
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase the number of inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not measure its impact by counting the number of inspections. HSE uses a variety of methods to influence change and help people manage risks at work including providing advice, information and guidance, working with stakeholders, carrying out investigations and taking enforcement action to prevent harm and hold those who break the law to account
HSE’s published business plan for 2023/2024 outlines the targeted interventions it plans to deliver in areas of greatest risk to assess dutyholder compliance with the law, this can be found here. In carrying out this work HSE is planning to deliver a minimum of 14,000 inspections.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to enforcement notice 310819694 served against the UK Health Security Agency on 31 July 2020 by the Health and Safety Executive, what steps she is taking to ensure that laboratories at Porton Down continue to comply with relevant safety requirements.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In July 2020 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued a Crown Improvement Notice in relation to the information, instruction, and training for the handling and restraint of animals infected with hazardous biological agents. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) complied with this notice to the satisfaction of the HSE, by their deadline of November 2020. The UKHSA has built upon this through a dedicated human factors specialist in its corporate health and safety function, and a compliance team within the Science Group.
The UKHSA Porton Down high security laboratories meet current HSE guidance. This is tested on a regular basis by site evidence-based inspections, conducted by the HSE.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the current condition of the high-security laboratories at Porton Down is.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
All of the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) high security laboratories at Porton Down, including the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens’ (ACDP) Containment Level 4 facility, are operational and compliant with all health, safety, and security requirements. The Health and Safety Executive conducts annual inspections of the ACDP Containment Level 4 facilities, and a recent assessment by the UKHSA has also confirmed that with proper maintenance, the high containment facilities can remain operational for at least another decade until they are replaced.
Correspondence Feb. 21 2024
Committee: Work and Pensions Committee (Department: Department for Work and Pensions)Found: Correspondence from the Health and Safety Executive relating to its approach to asbestos management Correspondence
May. 08 2024
Source Page: Exchange of letters on spray foam insulation, May 2024Found: Sarah Albon Chief Executive Officer Health & Safety Executive Philip White Director
May. 08 2024
Source Page: Exchange of letters on spray foam insulation, May 2024Found: Sarah Albon Chief Executive Officer Health & Safety Executive Philip White Director
Written Evidence Dec. 06 2023
Inquiry: Ofsted’s work with schoolsFound: for 2020 - SHP - Health and Safety News, Legislation, PPE, CPD and Resources (shponline.co.uk)
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that farmers follow duties under (a) section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and (b) Cattle and public access guidance published by the Health and Safety Executive.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Over the period 2020/21-2022/23, eight members of the public were killed in agriculture, forestry and fishing in work-related incidents involving cattle while walking on public rights of way or open access land. This information has been published on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website Fatal injuries in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Great Britain 2022/23 (hse.gov.uk)
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) provide the national reporting framework for accident reporting and place a duty on responsible persons (usually employers, certain self-employed persons, and those in control of work premises) to report certain cases of injury, diseases and specified dangerous occurrences to the relevant Enforcing Authority.
Incidents involving livestock and members of the public are reportable under RIDDOR where they result in either a fatality or a member of public attending hospital, directly from site, for treatment in respect of any injuries sustained. Many serious incidents are not reported so HSE does not have verified data on major injuries sustained by members of the public involving cattle. However, some analysis was done in 2020/21 for the Agriculture Industry Advisory Committee and this suggested that 26 members of the public sustained non-fatal injuries from cattle whilst walking on public rights of way or open access land.
The safety and health of people at work in agriculture and members of the public who are affected by agricultural activities is a concern to HSE and the industry. HSE has a long-term strategy to drive up industry ownership of the challenge and influence farmer behaviour to comply with long standing legal requirements. Since 2018, HSE has delivered an annual programme of free training to farmers in advance of targeted proactive inspection. These targeted inspections specifically check if farmers are complying with the law in relation to management of risks from workplace vehicles, cattle (including the management of cattle in fields with public rights of ways) and falls.
Earlier this year HSE has launched its 2024 Agricultural Campaign Work Right Agriculture - Work Right to keep Britain safe which includes a clear focus on management of livestock in a bid to improve safety on Britain’s farms. HSE is committed to supporting farmers to work safely with livestock.
HSE also produces guidance to enable farmers and landowners to manage the risk from cattle put into fields which also have public access. Guidance is available free of charge on HSE’s website:
Apr. 24 2009
Source Page: The Week - issue 51. 7 p.Found: Dentistry and the NHS brand4. Child health mapping5.