Health and safety at work

Health and Safety at work is regulated by the local authority and the Health and Safety Executive. There are specific regulations dictating which authority regulates which work activity, however, there can be grey areas. The lists below details which authority generally regulates which activity.

Local authority responsibility

Epping Forest District Council is responsible for the following:

  • Retail shops
  • Pub’s
  • Restaurant or café
  • Office’s
  • Beauty therapy business
  • Nail bars
  • Hairdresser and barbers
  • Tattooist or piercer
  • Children’s nurseries or playgroups that aren’t provided by or on school premises
  • Residential Homes for the elderly (not nursing homes- see below)
  • Builders merchants
  • Warehouse or storage facilities
  • Sports facility or club
  • Gymnasia
  • Visitor or tourist attraction
  • Petrol stations
  • Car washes at petrol stations
  • Hotels and temporary accommodation
  • Car showrooms (not service or repair-see below)
  • Tyre and exhaust fitters

For advice, or to make a complaint about a work activity that is listed above and regulated by the local authority email environmentalhealth@eppingforestdc.gov.uk.

Health and Safety Executive responsibility

The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for the following:

  • Construction and demolition sites and work by domestic builders / roofers / scaffolders
  • Any form of manufacturing site or factory
  • Standalone hand car washes
  • Work by a contractor, such as gas, electric, water, telecommunications, etc, in a domestic premise
  • Nursing homes
  • Delivery services
  • Schools and other educational establishments
  • Garages offering mechanical repair or servicing and body shop
  • Dry cleaners
  • Doctors
  • Dentists and other medical premises
  • Chemical sites

For advice, or to make a complaint about a work activity that is listed above and regulated by the Health and Safety Executive:

HSE A to Z guide

If you are still unsure whether the Local Authority or Health and Safety Executive regulates the work activity you are enquiring about, use the HSE A to Z guide which lists many work activities and the regulating authority.

Accidents at work

If you have had an accident at work, we can investigate to ensure a similar accident does not occur. If your employer should legally have done something to reduce the risk of the accident occurring, we can take action to improve the situation. In rare cases and for serious failings in an employer’s undertaking, we can prosecute.

Certain specific accidents and disease are legally required to be reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations (RIDDOR). Some occupational diseases must also be reported, see the link for more detail.

When and what to report :

  • Work-related deaths
  • Work-related accidents which cause certain specified serious injuries to workers, or which result in a worker being incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days (see the RIDDORsite)
  • Cases of those industrial diseases listed in RIDDOR
  • Certain dangerous occurrences or near-miss accidents
  • Injuries to a person who is not at work, such as a member of the public, which are caused by an accident at work and which result in the person being taken to hospital from the site for treatment

The agency responsible for investigating will be as listed at the top of this page. All reportable incidents, accidents and disease are made via the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website:

More details can be found on the HSE RIDDOR home page:

Public register

More information