Nearly 27 million working days are lost each year in the UK due to workplace ill health and injury. The CIEH believes that everyone should be protected from ill health and accidents arising from work activities and should be subject to decent standards of welfare at work.
Working to improve the health of working age people by ensuring healthier and safer workplaces and promoting healthier lifestyles is a key strand of improving public and environmental health.
The CIEH works with its members, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), central and local government, non-governmental organisations, professional bodies and businesses to secure:
- Sensible risk management of health and safety
- The improvement of health, safety and welfare standards
- A higher profile for health and safety
It is one of the founder creators of the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR).
Environmental health practitioners help to ensure high standards of health and safety in a range of areas. Those working for local authorities provide advice to businesses on their legal responsibilities and enforce the law when businesses don’t comply. Those working in the private sector may be independent consultants or they may work as health and safety advisors within large companies, for example. In certain sectors, the HSE is responsible for enforcing the law. To see whether a particular type of activity is controlled by the local authority or by the HSE, please visit the HSE website, where you can also find out more about the work of local authorities.
Advice and information
If you are a business seeking advice on a health and safety issue, you may find the Government’s Business Link website helpful.
The HSE website is also a useful source of information and advice.
Many local authorities have pages on their websites dedicated to health and safety.
CIEH documents