Section 18 Toolkits - full suite now available online

Section 18 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) requires the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Local Authorities (LAs) to make adequate arrangements for enforcement. It sets out the arrangements that LAs and HSE’s Field Operation Directorate should put in place to meet this duty.

 The Standard came into force in April 2008; it builds upon the previous statutory guidance. All enforcing authorities should be fully compliant with the Standard by April 2011. 

A series of toolkits are now available to assist enforcing authorities assess their service against the Standard. A peer review process to provide assurance that the standard is consistently applied underpins this process of self-assessment. 

HELA has asked that LAs help fine-tune the toolkits over the next six months. To do this LAs should carry out an assessment of their service against the standard using the Self-Assessment Form and provide feedback to HSE’s Local Authority Unit (LAU) either via your Partnership Manager, or directly via: section18@hse.gsi.gov.uk.