East Suffolk Council
Health and safety
Workplace health and safety enforcement is the joint responsibility of our Food and Safety Team and the Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
We cover health and safety in shops, warehouses, offices, hotels, catering, sports and leisure facilities, consumer services (laundrettes, hairdressers, tyre and exhaust fitters etc.), residential care homes and churches.
The Health and Safety Executive covers mainly industrial activities such as factories, building sites, mines & quarries, agriculture, railways, chemical plants, offshore and nuclear installations and fairgrounds.
The Food and Safety Team aims to prevent work place accidents and ill health by:
- Inspecting workplaces and enforcing health and safety law
- Investigating accidents, dangerous occurrences and occupational ill-health
- Following up complaints about working conditions or practices
- Providing advice and information on health and safety in the work place
- Promoting relevant local and national health and safety topics
Business support and advice
Business Companion provides information for businesses and individuals that need to know about trading standards and consumer protection legislation.
If you are in the non-retail sector, or need further business advice, you can contact Suffolk Trading Standards on 01473 264859 or email tradingstandards@suffolk.gov.uk
Complaints regarding health and safety regulatory advice
An independent regulatory challenge panel has been established to consider challenges to health and safety regulatory advice given by HSE or local authority inspectors. The panel will look into issues raised by business where they believe a HSE or local authority health and safety inspector has given advice that is incorrect or disproportionate. It will not look at issues where other independent appeals processes exist, such as for enforcement notices or prosecutions.