Are you fully prepared for a regulator or other authority to visit?

There are an extraordinary number of national and local government bodies that can visit your site to see if you are complying with the legislation they regulate.

The regulatory aim is to drive better compliance through guidance and education. However, if your compliance is too far below their expectation then they normally have additional powers to require you to take action, and in severe circumstances to stop some, or all of your works.

The main regulators you may encounter and their area of regulation are:

• Health and Safety Executive, covers workplace H&S, with the aim of preventing work-related deaths.  This includes the welfare of employees and others who act as employees such as agency staff.  An over looked element of welfare is mental health, and the HSE are rectifying this and expect to see policies and actions to tackle workplace stress.  The HSE has recently become the regulator for building safety.
•  Environment Agency, aims to improve the environment and does this through regulating a number of activities which may have the potential to harm the environment.  They regulate waste in England, so if your organisation produces waste you are likely regulated in part by the EA, this includes the transporting of waste, so if you have people who take waste from a customer in a vehicle to your site or a disposal point, you probably need to be a registered waste carrier (upper or lower tier).  You are very likely to be required to comply with the Simpler Recycling rules, smaller organisations with less than 10 employees have until the 31 March 2027 to comply, these require your organisation to separately recycle: Dry waste (glass, metal, plastic, paper and cardboard); and Food Waste (food/meal leftovers, fruit and veg skin, peel, cores, coffee and tea leftovers); other non-recyclable waste must be kept separated. 
• Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers, these generally enforce the HSE regulations and trading practices at offices, shops and places of leisure.
• Companies House, verifying of identities of people with significant control of a company.  Filing of documentation within certain timescales.
• Fair Work Agency, if you employ agency staff then you need to supply each person with a "Key Information Document".  The FWA enforces the minimum wage requirements, and helps to regulate the Modern Slavery Act.
• Information Commissioner's Office, ensures the requirements of the data protection and investigates reports of data breaches.  Data breaches are to be reported within 72-hours of a breach occurring.
• Office for Product Safety and Standards, almost all consumer products are covered so if you supply consumer products you have to ensure you comply with all the relevant regulations applying to your products.

Other bodies with powers you must be aware of include:

• Police, following a death at work it is the police who begin an investigation under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, only when they are satisfied that a Gross Breach of of a Duty of Care has not occurred will they hand the investigation to another organisation, generally the HSE.  If there is any illegal activity on your site then they have a number of powers available to them, such as search and seizure, and closure orders for commercial premises linked to crime.  Knowing what is going on at your site is imperative, poor behaviours by employees can land you in serious trouble.  The police also work with, and accompany, other authorities such as Trading Standards and other specialist regulators like the HSE and the EA.
• National Crime Agency, Knowing what is going on at your site is imperative, poor behaviours by employees can land you in serious trouble, the NCA investigate: bribery and corruption; drugs, firearms, modern slavey (with or without the Fair Work Agency) and money laundry.
• Fire Service, can enter your premises (without using force) to inspect your premises to ensure you are complying with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order including the production of relevant documents.  They can test items found, including dismantling, any item they believe is, or could be a cause of danger.The Fire Service can issue notices requiring alterations to be made, enforcement notices, and prohibition notices, as well as under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order they can also be issued under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations, Building Safety Act, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, and the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act, as well as other more specific regulations. 

If you do not feel confident that a regulatory visit will go without a hitch then please contact me to discuss how I can help you and your organisation.