Our role in health and safety
Employer’s duty
Employers have a responsibility to:
- provide safe working conditions
- give enough training in safe working practices, so there is less risk of illness or injury
Health and safety standards also apply to:
- customers of a business
- contractors working at the site
Our role in health and safety
We are responsible for overseeing workplace standards in our district. This includes:
- 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.
We work with employers and employees with the aim of making sure there are good health, safety and welfare standards in place.
Our work involves
- giving advice and information
- inspection of workplaces
- investigating accidents, dangerous situations, or outbreaks of industrial disease
- enforcement of the standards required by law, usually by advice, legal notice, and prosecution.
We always try to ensure that our requirements are in proportion to the degree of risk to health or safety.
Inspections and inspector rights
Our health and safety inspectors have the right to enter work premises at any time. Inspectors do not normally make appointments and can visit without notice.
A schedule of inspections is carried out based on the national priority rating scheme.
Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are the relevant enforcement agency for the following workplaces:
- factories
- farms
- building sites
- mines
- schools and colleges
- fairgrounds
- gas, electricity and water systems
- hospitals and nursing homes
- central and local government premises
- offshore installations.
Cooling Towers
In South Cambridgeshire, premises where cooling towers and evaporative condensers are placed must register with us.
We will need details of:
- where the plant is located
- the person in control of the premises
- the number of devices at the premises and their location
These details are needed to prevent or control the spread of legionellosis (including Legionnaires disease).
We have a register of cooling towers in the district. If you need more information contact the Environmental Health team on the details below.