Legislation owned and enforced by HSE and Local Authorities

HSE owns a significant amount of primary and secondary legislation. The primary legislation comprises the Acts of Parliament, including the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The secondary legislation is made up of Statutory Instruments (SIs), often referred to as 'regulations'. It is enforced by HSE and Local Authorities (LAs). HSE and LAs work locally, regionally and nationally, to common objectives and standards. For more information about HSE's enforcement activity, please visit the Enforcement pages.

The website legislation.gov.uk provides access to UK legislation online. Full texts of Acts of Parliament from 1988 and Statutory Instruments (SIs) from 1987 are available on the site as well as draft SIs and legislation for Northern Ireland. The website is now in the process of uploading a large number of SIs from 1948 onwards where this legislation is still in force. These are the original versions (as originally made). UK Statutory Instruments are not carried in their revised form on this site. Acts and SIs can be downloaded free of charge. It is possible to search by subject, date and type of legislation.

Legislation that was published before these dates can be purchased from TSO, the supplier of official publications. It can also be consulted via public, academic and some company libraries.

For further advice on using these lists please see the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Disclaimer.