Inspections, complaints and accidents

Employers' duties and responsibilities

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states that as an employer, or self-employed person you must look after yourself and everyone working for you or who may be affected by what you do (this includes members of the public and visitors to your premises). Find out about your responsibilities as an employer.

Employer's responsibilities 

Our responsibilities and those of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

The Environmental Health Team and the HSE are responsible for enforcing health and safety at workplaces in the Hart District. They include:

Hart District Council HSE
Shops and offices Construction sites
Warehouses Hospitals and nursing homes
Hotels, care homes and leisure facilities Factories and Manufacturers 
Catering premises and mobile food vendors Car repair garages
Builders’ merchants Fair grounds
Acupuncture, body piercing and beauty parlours Farms
Riding stables Educational premises

Advice and support

The HSE has useful information on health and safety in the workplace (see related content).

Or if you want advice about health and safety in your workplace you can contact us on 01252 774421 or email us at eh@hart.gov.uk 

Complaints about a workplace

If you wish to make a complaint about a workplace enforced by us, please use our environmental health reporting form:

Complain about a workplace enforced by Hart

To report serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and near-miss incidents to the Health and Safety Executive.

Complain about a workforce enforced by HSE

Accidents at work

Employers have a responsibility to report certain accidents or incidents at places of work.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) places a legal duty to report certain accidents or incidents to the relevant Enforcing Authority. This duty falls to:

  • employers
  • self-employed people
  • people in control of premises

What should be reported

RIDDOR applies to all work activities but not all incidents are reportable. You must report:

  • deaths
  • major injuries
  • injuries where an employee or self-employed person is away from work or unable to perform their normal work duties for more than seven consecutive days
  • injuries to members of the public or people not at work, where they have been taken from the scene of an accident to hospital
  • some work-related diseases
  • dangerous incidents - where something happens that does not result in an injury, but could have done 

For more information about RIDDOR and reporting accidents, including what and what isn't reportable, visit the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website.

To report a death at work you should call the HSE's incident contact centre on 0345 300 9923 (opening hours Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm).