Health and safety at work

We ensure that local businesses provide safe and healthy working conditions for all employees and visitors. We do this by:

• Inspecting business premises
• Investigating accidents in the workplace
• Giving advice to businesses and employers
• Providing nationally recognised health and safety training courses

Are we your enforcing authority?

Enforcement of health and safety is split between Wycombe District Council and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The council is responsible for enforcing health and safety at workplaces including:

• offices (except government offices)
• shops
• hotels
• restaurants
• leisure premises
• nurseries and playgroups
• pubs and clubs
• museums (privately owned)
• places of worship
• sheltered accommodation and care homes

HSE is responsible for:

• factories
• farms
• building sites
• nuclear installations
• mines
• schools and colleges
• fairgrounds
• gas, electricity and water systems
• hospitals and nursing homes
• central and local government premises
• offshore installations

Details of the local HSE offices can be found on the Health and Safety Executives website using the link at the bottom of the page.

Reporting an accident/incident in the workplace

Employers, the self-employed and those in control of business premises must report certain types of workplace accidents and incidents. This is a legal duty under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

If you are an employee, you must inform your employer or the person in control of the premises of an accident or incident so they can report it.

Fatal and major incidents and injuries should be reported by phone to the relevant enforcing authority. All other reportable work-related injuries and incidents under RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995) can be reported online from RIDDOR's website using the link at the bottom of the page.

Accident investigations

Not all accidents that are reported are investigated. We operate an incident selection criteria to ensure that resources are targeted most effectively and consistently. Details on this can be found at the HSE's website using the link below.

Please note that we cannot help you get compensation or resolve problems of civil law.

Making a complaint about a place of work

We investigate complaints about the conditions and practices at workplaces that we are responsible for. Please contact us with the details using the phone or email to the right of this page.

Helping you manage your risks

Help and advice has been produced for businesses / organisations to assist them in managing their health and safety. Information on their legal duties and help with undertaking risk assessments (including templates) can be found at the HSE's website using the link below.

Further assistance

Whilst we are able to provide assistance and guidance on securing compliance with regulatory requirements there are circumstances when employers may need specialist help.

If you use chemicals, machinery or are engaged in hazardous activities and do not have the necessary in-house competence (technical knowledge and experience) you may need to engage the services of a consultant to assist in managing your risks.

The Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) will help you find a consultant with experience in your work. Health and safety consultants registered on OSHCR will have a status recognised by the participating bodies in the scheme whose aim is to improve competence in external health and safety advice.

For further information on the OSHCR please see their website at the bottom of the page.

Sensible risk management

Wycombe District Council is firmly committed to the principles of sensible risk management.

Sensible risk management is about:

• Ensuring that workers and the public are properly protected
• Providing overall benefit to society by balancing benefits and risks, with a focus on reducing real risks - both those which arise more often and those with serious consequences
• Enabling innovation and learning not stifling them
• Ensuring that those who create risks manage them responsibly and understand that failure to manage real risks responsibly is likely to lead to robust action
• Enabling individuals to understand that as well as the right to protection, they also have to exercise responsibility

Sensible risk management is not about:

• Creating a totally risk free society
• Generating useless paperwork mountains
• Scaring people by exaggerating or publicising trivial risks
• Stopping important recreational and learning activities for individuals where the risks are managed
• Reducing protection of people from risks that cause real harm and suffering

The council signed up to these principles along with the other Buckinghamshire councils in 2009. Further information can be found at the HSE's webpage on the Buckinghamshire councils signing up to the sensible risk management using the link at the bottom of the page.

Be part of the solution

The Health and Safety Executive and Wycombe District Council recognise that it must engage with its partners and businesses to improve health and safety performance and standards.

A new strategy "The Health and Safety of Great Britain, Be Part of the Solution" was published in 2009. This confirms that everyone has a role to play in working together to improve health and safety standards. The strategy can be found at the HSE's website using the link below.

Companies/organisations are encouraged to pledge their support to the strategy by:

• Agreeing to play their part in reducing the numbers of work-related deaths, injuries and ill-health in Great Britain.
• Calling on employers to put health and safety at the heart of what they do and to take a common sense approach to health and safety.
• Committing to debunking myths around health and safety that trivialise the impact of injuries, ill health and deaths on individuals and their families.
• Recognising the importance of health and safety in difficult economic times and the dangers of complacency.
• Pledging to work with the Health and Safety Executive and its partners to Be Part of the Solution.

This can be done by visiting the HSE's website using the link at the bottom of the page.