Health and Safety Executive

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), reporting to the Health and Safety Commission, is non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the regulation of risks to health and safety in the UK. It was created as a result of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and had absorbed earlier regulatory bodies such as the Factory Inspectorate and the Railway Inspectorate; the Railway Inspectorate was transferred to the Office of Rail Regulation in April 2006. The HSE is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions. As part of its work HSE investigates industrial accidents, such as the high profile explosion and fire at Buncefield in 2005.

Structure and responsibilities
Local authorities are responsible to the HSE for the enforcement of safety laws in shops, offices, and other parts of the service sector.

Agencies belonging to the HSE include

Explosives Inspectorate
HSE's Explosives Inspectorate enforces the legislation for the classification and transport of explosives. It licences manufacturing and larger storage sites.

The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL)
Based in Buxton, Derbyshire, it employs over 350 people including scientists, engineers, psychologists, social scientists, health professionals and technical specialists. The services they provide include:
 * Research and development
 * Specialist advice and consultancy
 * Forensic investigation into the causes of accidents
 * Environmental and biological monitoring
 * Assessment of levels of risk and investigation of their control
 * Establishing realistic requirements for standards, and processes for meeting those standards
 * Validation and certification

Recent initiatives
In October 2006, the HSE launched its Better Backs campaign, using a fictional rockband (Bäackpain) in a series of humorous adverts, to help tackle problems caused by back pain in the UK.

The HSE focuses regulation of health and safety in the following sectors of industry:
 * Agriculture
 * Air transport
 * Armed forces
 * Catering & hospitality
 * Construction industries
 * Crown establishments
 * Chemical manufacture and storage industries
 * Professional diving
 * Dockwork
 * Education sector e.g schools
 * Engineering sector
 * Entertainment & leisure industry
 * Fire Service
 * Food & drink manufacture
 * Footwear and leather industries
 * Haulage
 * Health Services e.g. hospitals
 * Gas supply and installation; CORGI
 * Laundries and dry-cleaning
 * Mining
 * Motor Vehicle Repair
 * Nuclear installations Nuclear Installations Inspectorate aka NII
 * Office work
 * Offshore gas and oil installations
 * Paper and board manufacturing industry
 * Police Force
 * Printing industries
 * Public services
 * The Quarry industry
 * Recycling and waste management industries
 * Textiles industries