Businesses that believe they have been the recipients of erroneous, or over-the-top advice from HSE or Local Authority (LA) inspectors can now appeal these decisions to an independent panel.

The Government has announced its intention to expand and extend the Local Better Regulation Office’s (LBRO) Primary Authority scheme as part of a package of plans to transform ‘front-line enforcement’ for businesses.

Businesses taking on more regulatory responsibilities and enforcement authorities giving greater recognition to companies’ efforts to comply with the law are two of the tenets of the Government’s vision for a better regulatory environment, Business minister Mark Prisk said yesterday.

The leader of a London council who refused to wear a hard hat while visiting a redevelopment site in his borough defended his decision, saying “people should have a choice whether to wear them or not”.

One in four workers says that staff cutbacks have led to more bullying in the workplace, but more than half of those bullied are too scared to raise the issue with management for fear of losing their job.

Suffolk County Council has appeared in court for failing to manage health and safety at three of its workplaces, including two schools.

Warwickshire County Council has appeared in front of magistrates for failing to install adequate guards on a hot-water pump at its headquarters.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has admitted failing to ensure that regular gas safety checks were undertaken at 38 of its properties.

Morrisons Supermarkets has been fined £17,500 after a worker fractured her elbow when she slipped at a store in Ipswich.

A landlord has been given a six-month suspended prison sentence for allowing a tenant to live without hot water or heating for two years.

Hilary Ross examines the New Look case – a prosecution under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) 2005, which caused some disquiet in health and safety circles, not least on account of the size of the penalty imposed.

As councils and housing providers increasingly turn to solar energy to help residents reduce their household energy bills as well as their impact on the environment, they need to know how to manage the risks to their workforce when carrying out tasks above ground level.

A new approach to refresh national enforcement priorities for local-authority regulatory services, and help them focus on the key regulatory risks faced in England, is detailed in a new report by the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO).

The Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA) and the HSE’s Working Well Together (WWT) campaign have collaborated to produce a DVD that addresses general attitudes and behaviours to digging safely around utility infrastructures.

Hertsmere Borough Council has partnered with the HSE and other neighbouring local authorities to launch a flexible warranting scheme.

New research has found that local authorities are issuing pavement licences for scaffolding without ensuring that applicants meet legal requirements.