Health and safety

We inspect businesses to make sure they comply with health and safety legislation.

 

Health and safety inspections

Report accidents at work 

The reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations (RIDDOR) requires employers, and anyone else with responsibility for health and safety within a workplace, to report and keep records of:

• work-related deaths
• specified serious injuries
• injuries that result in absence from work for over seven days
• injuries to a person not at work who is taken to hospital for treatment directly from the premises
• cases of diagnosed industrial disease
• near miss accidents

Report an incident

You must report incidents as soon as possible.

Report your health and safety incident

The information is submitted directly to the RIDDOR database. You will receive a copy for your records.

Visit HSE guidance on reporting accidents and incidents at work

You report all incidents online. There is a telephone service for reporting fatal and major injuries only. Call 0845 300 9923 (Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm).

Report unsafe work activities

Contact us if you think a business is not operating safely so we can investigate it.

We will investigate complaints about:

• 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

Tell us:

• your name, address and contact details
• the name and address of the workplace or activity you are concerned about
• a description, including who is at risk and why, if the risk is happening now, how long it is likely to go on for, how often it happens and when and where any incident occurred

Report smoking in the workplace

Smoking in any workplace or public place that is enclosed or substantially enclosed is against the law.

If you know of a workplace that is breaking the smoking ban, tell us and we will investigate it.

Health and safety requirements for businesses

The HSE’s health and safety made simple gives you all the information you need to comply with the law and manage health and safety in your business.

There are some things businesses need to do:

• decide who will help with your duties
• write a health and safety policy
• manage the risks in your business
• consult your employees
• provide training and information
• provide the right workplace facilities
• make arrangements for first aid, accidents and ill health
• display the health and safety law poster
• get insurance
• keep up to date

Smoke-free requirements

Smoking is banned in all workplaces or public places that are enclosed or substantially enclosed.

You are not allowed to smoke tobacco or anything that contains tobacco, or any other substance, including:

• manufactured cigarettes
• hand-rolled cigarettes
• pipes and cigars
• shisha (water pipes)
• any substance in a form in which it could be smoked such as herbal and tobacco-free alternatives 

Businesses must put measures into place for their premises and their employees to meet these legal duties.

Smoking shelters must comply with:

• smoke-free regulations and planning
• noise pollution
• licensing and building control legislation

Smoking (including shisha) is only allowed outside the open air, or where the requirements have been properly met for a structure to be non-substantially enclosed.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) asbestos safety campaign

The beware asbestos campaign aims to raise awareness of the real and current risks facing today’s trades people. It also seeks to help them work more safely when doing jobs that might disturb asbestos to help protect them from harm.

There’s a free web app to help trades people easily identify where they could come into contact with asbestos as they go about their day-to-day work. It leads trades people through a list of simple multiple-choice questions about the type of building they are working in, the job that they’re doing, and the type of asbestos containing material they are working on.

We have to inspect certain types of premises to ensure compliance with health and safety legislation. Our aim is to secure the health, safety and welfare of people at work and people who may be affected by work activities.

Cooling tower notification

Any premises with cooling towers and evaporative condensers must register with us.

This helps us identify potential areas that could be at risk of spreading infectious diseases such as legionella. We can then take preventative measures to eliminate the risk to employees and the public.

See cooling tower registration form (PDF 31kb)

It is a legal requirement that all application forms are printed off and signed by the applicant. We cannot accept forms sent electronically. When printing off completed forms, make additional copies for your own records.

Once you have completed the form it must be printed off, signed, dated and sent back to us by post to:

Environmental Health
Hackney Service Centre
1 Hillman Street
E8 1DY

Find out more from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Register of cooling towers in Hackney

Name	Address	Telephone
BayernLB	Bavaria House, 13-14 Appold Street	020 7955 5166
Valente Brothers (HSE enforced premises)	39-40 Chelmer Road	020 8985 6839
London Stock Exchange	1 Earl Street	020 7797 7407
Metropolitan Police (HSE enforced premises)	Stoke Newington Police Station, 33 Stoke Newington High Street	020 7739 1212
Royal Bank of Scotland	Crown House, 145 City Road	020 7672 1456
Ionic Information Ltd	3 Bath Place	020 7749 8500
Pinsent Masons LLP	30 Crown Place