Foreword

The Enforcement Guide provides legal guidance to HSE staff in respect of their enforcement powers and duties. It will also be useful to other health and safety enforcement agencies. The information and advice it provides will assist HSE staff in the use of their discretion in making decisions. It does not override the requirement to consider each case on its own facts, circumstances and merits in the context of the Code for Crown Prosecutors, the HSE Enforcement Policy Statement and the criminal law. Neither is it a substitute for standard legal textbooks or the advice available from legal advisors.

Certain information in the Guide is exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and, in due course, under the Freedom Information Act. It therefore does not appear in the website Guide.

The Guide is not intended to provide legal guidance to members of the public and should not be used as such. It may only be reproduced under certain circumstances after permission has been sought and a specific licence has been granted by HMSO. However the HSE does not take responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any reproduced material.

The Guide does not create any rights enforceable at law in any legal proceedings.

Queries about the contents of the Guide (other than those relating to copyright and reproduction of the Guide) should be made to HSE.

© Crown copyright 2003

This document is Value Added material and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Queries about reproduction or applications for reproduction should be made:

By post to: Licensing Division, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, St Clements House, 2 - 16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ
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Further information about using Crown copyright material can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk