The Health and Safety Executive, often referred to as the HSE, is an independent regulator that aims to prevent work-related death, injury and ill-health.
Click here to visit The Health and Safety Executive website.
The foundations of the organisation can be dated back to the 1800’s when the HM Factory Inspectorate, Mines Inspectorate and Quarry Inspectorates were formed.
But it was on 1 January 1975 that the Health and Safety Executive was officially established, led by its first Director General, John Lock.
The organisation came into being the year after the publication of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. (In Northern Ireland, these duties lie with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).)
The organisation acts in the public interest to reduce work-related death and serious injury across Great Britain’s workplaces. It is not the sole regulator, as in many cases local authorities are responsible for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974.
Since 2014 when the Care Act came into force, the Care Quality Commission has been responsible for undertaking some of the investigatory/regulatory work currently been undertaken by the HSE or the local authorities, when an incident causing harm, injury or death occurs to a person who is receiving care and support.
Commentary from HSE officials is often featured in SHP from its in-court stories, where the regulator is responsible for bringing prosecutions against individuals and companies.
For the latest HSE news stories, including prosecutions, follow SHP’s In Court page here and see a summary of the most recent news stories below.
HSE data shows that a total of 135 workers died in work-related incidents in Great Britain in 2022/23, an increase of 12 from the previous year.
In statistical terms the number of fatalities has remained broadly level in recent years – the average annual number of workers killed at work over the five years 2017/18-2021/22 is 134.
Over the past 20 years there has been a long-term reduction in the number of workplace fatalities, demonstrating that Great Britain is one of the safest places to work in the world.
The figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) relate to workplace incidents. They do not include deaths arising from occupational exposure to disease, including COVID-19.
The construction and agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors continue to account for the greatest number of workers killed in fatal accidents each year.
Those three causes of death account for more than half of fatalities in 2022/23. Click here for more on annual workplace fatality figures.
Key figures for Great Britain (2021/22)
As a regulator, the HSE’s aim is to prevent workplace death, injury or ill health, through using a variety of methods to influence change and help people manage risks at work. These include:
They claim to work collaboratively with other regulators, agencies and government departments to ensure the most appropriate organisation intervenes. They do this by setting arrangements, where laws overlap, to:
They will not intervene if another regulator has specific responsibility for that area.
Local authorities are responsible for regulating health and safety in lower-risk workplaces, such as offices, shops and warehouses.
For more information, visit the HSE’s guide on who is the correct enforcing authority.
Under the Control of Major Hazards Regulations 2015 (COMAH), it also regulates major hazards by working jointly, as a competent authority, with:
Offshore major hazard industries (oil and gas) are regulated jointly by us and the Department for Environment and Climate Change.
It supports the work of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Office of Road and Rail Regulation and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
It also works closely with the Civil Aviation Authority and Maritime Coastguard Agency.
A complete list of all the regulators we have formal agreements with is available online.
Headquartered in Bootle, near Liverpool, the HSE headquarters address is: Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 7HS.
There are also several other offices around the country. To find your nearest office or knowledge – centre see this page on the HSE website.
All incidents can be reported using an online form, but a telephone service remains for reporting fatal and major injuries only – call the HSE Incident Contact Centre on 0345 300 9923 (opening hours Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 5 pm).
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Listen as Peter Kelly, Senior Psychologist for the Health and Safety Executive, talks about work-related stress and the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on employee mental health, and a discussion on the upcoming ISO45003 Standard.
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A production company has been fined after a stunt performer was injured during the filming of Fast and Furious 9: The Fast Saga, amongst calls for improvements to health and safety on set.
A company in the entertainment industry has been fined £16,000 following the death of a worker.
Nearly two million workers in Great Britain reported suffering from work-related ill health in 2022/23 as construction sector reports rise in fatalities.
An Aberdeen joinery and manufacturing company has been fined £9,400 after one of its workers suffered horrific injuries while cleaning a machine.
A manufacturer of shopping trolleys has been fined after two men fell approximately three metres when a metal cage they were dismantling collapsed beneath them.
The annual UKHCA conference took place in Sheffield this month, providing an overview of hearing health, risk management and control with noise at work.
Priory Healthcare Ltd has been fined for failing to ensure the safety of patients on the hospital’s Emerald Ward following the death of 21-year-old Francesca Whyatt.
Two men working on a residential tower under construction in London were fortunate to escape death when a defective cradle they were in fell about 90 feet.
Manufacturing company, Barcode Warehouse Ltd has been fined £500,000 after a man died when a forklift truck overturned.
An operations manager at a funfair company has been jailed for six months after a three-year-old girl died on a Norfolk beach.
A specialist heavy lifting company has been fined after two men fell from height during the assembly of a crane.
A builder has avoided an immediate spell behind bars after being convicted of carrying out gas work at a property in Berkshire when he was not qualified to do so.
Company fined after a Victorian building falls on a labourer during demolition work in Kilburn, North West London.
Two companies have been fined £46,000 in total after a labourer from Runcorn fractured his skull.
A West Midlands self-employed plumber has been jailed after carrying out further illegal and unsafe gas work.
A health and safety inspector found dangerous cladding lying on residents’ balconies at a Liverpool apartment block, posing a serious fire risk.
Three companies have been fined a total of £420,000 after a slate tile fractured the skull of a three-year-old child.
A company has been fined £20,000 after an employee’s arm was drawn into machinery and seriously injured.
A 16-year-old boy suffered serious injuries after becoming trapped under a tractor while on paid work experience.
A waste and recycling company in London has been fined £260,000 after a worker sustained severe crush injuries during maintenance work.
A Lincolnshire-based sole trader has been fined after his employees were exposed to a hazardous substance.
A bird farm in Leeds has been fined £26,680 after a fire in a rearing shed resulted in serious injuries to one of its employees.
A recycling company has been fined £40,000 after its failure to maintain the lifting equipment on a refuse vehicle caused the death of an employee.
Three companies have been fined a total of £600,000 after an engineer was fatally electrocuted while repairing an appliance in a hospital kitchen.
A Herefordshire butchers has been fined after a teenage worker severed four fingers while operating machinery that hadn’t been suitably guarded.
Some UK construction sites have no effective design or planning to eliminate risks from dust and the hierarchy of controls is simply not considered at all, says the regulator.
A dockside warehousing company has been fined £127,500 after a worker fell 25ft through an open hatch on a trawler which had no edge protection.
A company in Birmingham has been fined £1,275,000 after a 26-year-old man was crushed to death during maintenance work at Mountsorrel Quarry in Leicestershire.
A haulage company in Wales has been fined £100,000 after a worker fell from a loading bay and died.
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A manufacturing company in West Yorkshire has been fined £200,000 after workers were injured by an explosion.
A Manchester-based construction company and its director have been fined after health and safety failings following an inspection.
An educational trust has been fined after 15 schoolchildren and their teacher were injured when their classroom ceiling collapsed during a lesson.
Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited has been fined £535,000 after a worker sustained life changing injuries following the uncontrolled collapse of a crane.
A Warrington-based construction company has been fined £90,000 after exposing people to asbestos during a renovation project in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent.
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A farm has been fined £60,000 following the death of a man who was electrocuted by an overhead power line.
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HSE has launched a campaign saying that more needs to be done to protect Britain’s HGV drivers from work-related stress.
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A man has died after being injured today (Monday 14 August) at Everton’s new football stadium which is being built in Liverpool.
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Network Rail has been fined £1.2million following the death of a man who was crushed while carrying out maintenance work.
The owner of a motor repair company has been jailed for 10 months after a man got stuck and crushed under a vehicle and later died.
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A manufacturing company has been fined after a worker became entangled in a machine and has been left paralysed from the chest down.
Dr Karen McDonnell, RoSPA’s Occupational Health and Safety Policy Adviser and Head of RoSPA Scotland, is urging employers to look at ways to protect the health of construction workers.
A Blackpool clothing firm has been fined £40,000 after a man was seriously injured when he was hit by a forklift truck.
Two companies have been fined a combined total of more than £400,000 after staff working at a South Wales mental
A construction company has been fined £12,000 after a Shropshire bricklayer fell through a stairwell opening and fractured his skull.
A self-employed plumber has received a suspended prison sentence after carrying out unsafe gas work in Hampshire and for pretending to be Gas Safe registered.
A private boarding school has been fined £50,000 after exposing two employees, five pupils, and two other children to high levels of radioactive radon gas.
A leading workwear company has been fined £400,000 after an employee had the skin ripped off the palm of her left hand.
A Welshpool manufacturing company has been fined £100,000 after one of its employees partially severed two fingers while trying to find a fault in a machine.
A Welsh company that manufactures kitchen and toilet tissue paper has been fined £1million after an employee was seriously injured when he was struck in the face by a crane hook.
A family run haulage and storage business, has been fined following the death of a 25-year-old employee at its premises in East Lothian.
The largest health board in Scotland has been fined £235,000 after a man took his own life while in its care on 22 January 2020.
Plymouth City Council has been fined £200,000 after its failures led to employees developing hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
Tata Steel UK has been fined £120,000 after a worker suffered serious head injuries after being hit in the face with a scaffold pole, causing him to fall backwards.
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A London primary school has been fined £35,000 after a child received 45 per cent burns to their body at a carol concert.
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A Runcorn business park operator has been fined £13,000 after a worker fell more than 13 feet through a fragile roof.
A transport company has been fined £255,000 after a worker fell from a lorry and fractured his skull.
Serco has been fined £240,000 after a man was killed when the lorry he was a passenger in crashed into litter picking vans blocking a lane of a dual carriageway in Norfolk.
A manufacturing company has been fined after a man was drawn into a machine and broke his arm in two places.
A private health care provider has been fined after three workers received treatment following exposure to chlorine gas.
A vape liquid manufacturing company in Manchester has been fined after a worker lost two fingers and a thumb while clearing a blockage in a packaging machine.
A manufacturer of aircraft seats has been fined £660,000 after one of its employees suffered horrific injuries when he fell through a roof at a site in South Wales.
Chelmsford City Council has been fined £80,000 after a father-of-three died when he was struck by a bin lorry.
A Wiltshire landowner has been fined £15,000 after members of the public were seriously injured by cattle while walking along footpaths on his estate.
Employers need to act to make sure their workers are protected during periods of extreme hot weather this summer, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said.
A leading bedding manufacturer has been fined £80,000 after an employee suffered horrific injuries when his hand was drawn into a machine.
A plastics manufacturing company in West Bromwich has been fined after it put workers and the public at risk of being infected with potentially deadly bacteria.
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A Hampshire-based hygiene consultancy firm has been fined £2,000 after its failures put workers at risk of exposure to hazardous substances.
A glass distribution and installation company has been fined £200,000 after an employee broke two ribs and fractured his vertebra after being crushed by a crate.
A County Durham car valeting company has been fined after failing to comply with enforcement notices and putting workers at risk of electrocution.
A waste and recycling company has been fined after an employee’s leg was amputated after he was run over by a telehandler.
