Catalogue description Records of the Health and Safety Commission

In 1970 the Secretary of State for Employment appointed a Committee on Safety and Health at Work to examine existing occupational health and safety provisions and to recommend any requisite changes to current practice and legislation. In 1972, the committee recommended that detailed statutory regulation of conditions at places of work should be replaced by the creation of circumstances which would encourage and enable more effective self-regulation by employers and workers. It also proposed the establishment of a single governmental body to operate in the field of occupational health and safety, which would include or supervise the work of a unified inspectorate, instead of the several inspectorates then in existence.

The recommendations of the committee were substantially enacted in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The inclusion of the word 'etc' in the short title of the act was to reflect the provisions of the act with regard to securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work and also protecting persons other than workers against risks to their health and safety arising from the activities of workers; controlling the acquisition, storage and use of dangerous substances (including explosives); controlling atmospheric emissions within and from workplaces.

The act created the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and made it responsible to and under the direction of the Secretary of State for Employment; this arrangement continued until the merger of the Employment Department with the Department for Education in 1995, when the responsibility for the Health and Safety Commission passed to the Secretary of State for the Environment.

The commission consists of a chairman and not less than six nor more than nine members appointed by the Secretary of State; three members represent employers' interests, and a further three the interests of workers; other members represent local authorities, professional bodies, and other interested parties.

The functions of the HSC have to do with the prevention of harm: it involves laying down rules and standards for all industrial processes, securing compliance with those rules and standards, and stimulating and supporting the people actually responsible for health and safety matters (eg employers). The commission is empowered to appoint committees of experts to advise it in connection with its functions, and in 1975 it appointed a Committee of Experts on Major Hazards.

The commission also receives reports from advisory committees which are concerned with hazards specific to one industry or with issues affecting the wider working environment; it is empowered to approve codes of practice which are submitted to it, and may make proposals for regulations to be made by the Secretary of State; it has responsiblility for supervising the carrying out of research into occupational health and safety, and for providing an information and advisory service.

The functions of commission with regard to the enforcement of the act are largely delegated to the Health and Safety Executive.