We enforce health and safety legislation in commercial business premises in the borough.
We aim to protect the health, safety and welfare of people who may be exposed to risks from work activities, including employees and members of the public.
While the main responsibility for managing health and safety lies with the business who creates the risk, we play a vital role in ensuring the effective and proportionate management of risks for:
- employees
- anyone else who may be affected by a work activity
Our Health and Safety Team is responsible for enforcement in the following types of business premises:
- offices (except government offices)
- shops
- hotels
- restaurants
- leisure premises
- nurseries and playgroups
- pubs and clubs
- museums (privately owned)
- places of worship
- sheltered accommodation and care homes
Other types of workplaces
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for other types of workplaces. You can find more information about which authority is responsible for enforcing health and safety matters on their website:
Issues in the workplace
If you are an employee, you should try to resolve workplace issues directly with your employer before contacting us.
If your workplace has a recognised trade union, you can also raise health and safety concerns with your safety representative.
Accident reporting
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) places a duty on employers, the self-employed, and those in control of workplaces to report a range of events, including certain types of accidents and dangerous occurrences.
If we accept an accident report, a policy decision will be made on whether to investigate. This is guided by the HSE's incident selection criteria guidance (HSE website).
Further information about RIDDOR:
Contact our Health and Safety team
As a member of the public, you can contact us about any health and safety issues you may have experienced at a commercial premises. You can also contact us with any general enquiries.
- e-mail: healthandsafety@hounslow.gov.uk
For health and safety issues related to housing, see: How we look after your estate.
