Public Register of Enforcement / Prohibition Notices

[fred]

I've always been under the impression that enforcing authorities (under the Environment and Safety Information Act) were required to maintain a public register of Enforcement / Prohibition notices issued under their own legislation.

I know the HSE provide it on their website and some FRS's are doing the same.

Looking at the act in some detail it looks to me (see extract 2.(3) from the above legislation) that it is only applicable for situations other than for the protection of persons at work.  

"2. (3) The notices relevant for the purposes of this Act are those served under any of the provisions specified in the fourth column of the Schedule to this Act, other than notices which impose requirements or prohibitions solely for the protection of persons at work."

So should the FRS's register therefore, not include notices for premises where the only persons affected are at work ?

Any legal eagles out there ?

[PhilB]

That's correct Fred, notices issued purely for the safety of employees are not relevant notices and should not be recorded, the Environment & Safety Information Act  is about public safety, not the safety of employees. It was I think introduced following the Bradford fire so that members of the public could avoid scarey places.

Another point is that many FRS are using Hampshires standard letters and there is one withdrawing enforcement notices when the works are complete. When a notice is withdrawn it should be removed from the register...when the notice is complied with it should stay on the register for 3 years. So many FRS are not complying with the Statute by wrongly withdrawing notices.

Notices should only be withdrawn if there was an error in them or if they are no longer appropriate. The letters should say the notice is complied with not withdrawn.

[val]

CFOA are actively working on a central provision for FRS to feed their enforcement notices et al onto a publically available site. I wish it was moving faster but he-ho these things take time.

[fred]

Many thanks PhilB and Val - that's reassuring - and useful.

I've had a chat with a legal person at the HSE and they say they display details of their notices because they choose to - they are under no requirement to do so - however there is a little pressure from the  Freedom of Information Act. I suppose it's easier to display all of them than to respond to requests for them under that legislation.

I think the simplest way forward for FRS's displaying details of notices on their websites would be to display them under the heading of FOI rather than the Environment etc Act as it will require less maintenance ie  they won't have to be concerned if the notice is for persons at work - or not - so they can post them all - and I don't  think there are any timescales with the FOI so they can post them and forget them.