October 20, 2004—The UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently announced proposals to provide accessible channels of advice about workplace health and safety. The HSE had been advised that some businesses, particularly smaller enterprises, wanted to comply with health and safety standards but were reluctant to approach HSE or local authorities for fear of alerting them to their problems and inviting enforcement action.
HSE published a statement, Providing accessible advice and support, in September summarizing the range of issues the organization is pursuing and setting out the next stages of the work.
As one example of the services HSE is developing or improving, its Internet services will be improved by introducing advice forums in the form of “online communities” dealing with specific issues. Also, the reach and scope of Infoline, HSE’s public inquiry contact center, will be extended to be the main portal of communication for those seeking advice and guidance beyond that available from the HSE Web site.
