1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Mission Statement
4. Aims and Objectives
5. Compliance with National Policies
6. Enforcement
7. Authority Profile
8. Work Achieved 2023-24 and plan for 2024-25
9. Special Project – Funeral Directors
10. Resources
11. Competency and Consistency of Officers
12. Customer Survey
13. Complaints Against the Service
14. Disclosure of Information
15. Agreed and Approval
16. Contact Details

Introduction

1.1 This Health & Safety service plan is an expression of Rother District Council’s continuing commitment to regulating Health & Safety at work.

This service plan supports the vision of Rother DC Corporate Plan (2020 – 2027) “to put residents at the heart of all we do” by delivering an effective public health service to promote and sustain a safe prosperous community for businesses and residents. Corporate Plan 2020-2027 – Rother District Council

Rother District Council commits to the joint Statement of Commitment between local authorities and HSE Regulatory Services. Statement of commitment between: Local Authority and HSE Regulatory Services – HSE

1.2 The Better Regulation Office publication ‘National Enforcement Priorities for Local Authority (LA) Regulatory Services’, placed Health and Safety at Priority number four – ‘Help people to live healthier lives by preventing ill health and harm and promoting public health’. Priority Regulatory Outcomes (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Background

2.1 Health and Safety legislation in Great Britain is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive or one of the over 380 local authorities (LA) depending on the main activity. In general LA’s are the main enforcing authority for retail, wholesale distribution and warehousing, hotel and catering premises, offices, and the consumer/leisure industries. Local authorities are not responsible for – agriculture, horticulture, forestry, medicine (hospitals, GPs, dentists etc) mining, open land, quarries, and railways.

2.2 Each local authority is an enforcing authority and must make adequate provision for enforcement. The LA National Enforcement Code introduced in May 2013 sets out the principles that each local authority should follow to ensure a consistent, proportionate and targeted approach to regulation based on risk.

2.3 Local authorities use different approaches to regulate businesses, including;

• provision of advice and guidance to individual businesses or groups
• proactive interventions including inspection.
• reactive interventions e.g., to investigate an accident or complaint.

2.4 Local authority inspectors may use enforcement powers, including formal enforcement notices, to address risks and secure compliance with the law. Prosecution action may be appropriate to hold those to account for failures to safeguard health and safety Local authority enforcement – HSE and LAs Working together – HSE

2.5 Within Rother District Council this duty is carried out by Environmental Health Officers within the Environmental Health Department.

Mission Statement

‘Deliver an increasingly efficient and effective public health service which strives to promote and sustain a safe prosperous community for businesses, residents and visitors’.

Aims and Objectives

Aims:

To enable the service to use its resources in an efficient and effective way, to promote compliance with legal obligations under health and safety law, and to take robust action where there is serious non-compliance that puts the safety or health of those at work, or the public at risk.

Objectives:

1. To contribute to the growth of local businesses through the provision of proactive and reactive advice and guidance and contributing to a level playing field for business.
2. To investigate complaints and reports of incidents that meet the incident selection criteria and complaint handling criteria set down by HSE.
3. To target a range of interventions on prescribed national priorities and local intelligence-based priorities.
4. To work in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and others to deliver this service plan.
5. To support the Primary Authority Scheme.

Compliance With National Policies

All health and safety regulatory activity carried on by Rother District Council must conform to the requirements of the National Local Authority Enforcement Code. The Code requires that all health and safety law enforcement be proportionate in applying the law and securing compliance; consistent in approach and targeting of enforcement action; Rother Council must be transparent and accountable about how we operate and what those regulated may expect. Rother Council must ensure that health and safety priorities and interventions are targeted in accordance with the mandatory HSE guidance – Local Authority Circular 67-2 rev 13 Setting priorities and targeting interventions – HSE and LAs Working together – HSE

5.1 Interventions are carried out in accordance with written procedures which reflect the nature of the activity under consideration. Officers have regard to the regulations made under Section 15 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the codes of practice which are issued under Section 16 of the Act, when enforcing the provisions of the Act.

5.2 In accordance with HSE and LGA advice issued 1st April 2011, food hygiene and health and safety interventions will be joined where appropriate to minimise burdens on local businesses.

5.3 RDC is committed to meeting statutory duties under Equality Act 2010. We aim to place equalities at the heart of our service planning and decision-making processes. Equalities at Rother District Council – Rother District Council

5.4 This plan provides a documented system for officers’ guidance and information and to facilitate inter authority or peer review audits.

Enforcement

6.1 Rother District Council recognises the emphasis placed on enforcement by the guidance of the HSE and LG Regulation (published in May 2011), in particular the need for enforcement action to ‘Maintain a strong deterrent against those who fail to meet their H&S obligations and put their employees at material risk thereby also deriving an unfair competitive advantage’.

6.2 Rother District Council adopted an enforcement policy for the shared Environmental Health service in October 2014, Cabinet minute 14/31 is available at: EHEnforcementPolicy.pdf (rother.gov.uk)

Officers carry out enforcement in line with this enforcement policy as well as being guided by the Health and Safety Executive’s Enforcement Policy Statement and the Enforcement Management Model. Service standards and this plan can be found at Service standards – Rother District Council

Authority Profile

7.1 Rother’s District has a population of approximately 93,100 and covers an area of 511.8 Km2 (ONS 2021). It comprises rural, coastal, and urban areas with three main towns – Bexhill, Battle and Rye. The businesses within the district reflect this diversity with care, tourism and leisure being the largest sectors.

Bexhill, the main urban development, has a significant care industry which is manifest in a high number of care homes. Battle is a year-round tourist destination. Rye and Camber are popular summer tourist attractions with Rye Harbour the location of several industrial estates. Battle, Robertsbridge and Rye all hold large annual bonfire celebrations in November which are distinct to this area.

7.2 Health and Safety work is carried out by officers who also conduct food hygiene inspections, infectious disease investigations, commercial and residential caravan site licensing, kennel and cattery licensing, risk assess private water supplies, pest control and stray dog control. The team also participate in Project Discovery, a multi-agency team dealing with Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

7.3 The team operates from the Town Hall Bexhill on Sea and the Civic Offices Hailsham from 8 30 am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 4 30 on Friday. The service operates an agile working system. Planned out-of-hour work is undertaken and emergency calls are received by a standby system (Cornwall Council) on 01424 787868.

Rother District Council Structure

flowchart TB
accTitle: Rother District Council Structure
accDescr: The structure of Rother District Council's members including committees, cabinet and the chief executive
    A[Rother District Council \n Thirty-eight Elected Members] --- B[Cabinet]
    subgraph Committees
        C[Overview and Scrutiny Commitee]
        D[Planning Committee]
        E[Licencing & General Purposes Committees]
        F[Audit and Standards]
        G[Human Resources Committee]
        H[Joint Waste and Recycling Committee]
    end
    A --- Committees
    A --- I[Lorna Ford \n Chief Executive]
    

Decisions on this plan are delegated to Cllr. Field who communicates these to Mr R Parker-Harding, the Head of Environmental Health, Licensing and Community Safety.

The senior management structure is under redesign, as proposed below.

%%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%%
mindmap
  root("Chief Executive Officer
  (HoPs)")
    (Head of Corporate and Strategic Services)
    ("DCEO
    (s151)")
      (Head of Housing and Strategic Assets)
      (Head of Digital and Customer Services)
      (Head of Finacial Services)
      (Development Programme Lead)
    ("Director of Governance and Community Services (MO)")
      (Head of Neighbourhood Services)
      (Head of Planning)
      (Audit Manager)
      (Democratic Services Manager)
      ("Head of Environmental Services and Community Safety (Shared WDC)")

Environmental Health Structure

This chart shows the structure for the Environmental Health service for Rother District Council. A total of 21.75 full time officers are engaged in Environmental Health work for at an annual cost of £679,450.

flowchart TB
accTitle: Environmental Health Structure
accDescr: The structure of Rother District Council's Environmental Health Department
    A[Richard Parker-Harding \n Head of Environmental Services, Licensing & Community Safety] --- B[Catherine Beaumont \n Deputy Head of Service \n Community Protection and Licensing]
    A --- C[Una Kane \n Environmental Health Manager \n Food, Safety, Pest & Dog Control and Licensing]
    B --- D[Principal Environmental Health Officer \n Four Senior Environmental Health Officers \n Three Licensing Officers \n Seven Pollution Control Officers \n Housing Aid Co Ordinator \n Four Business Support officers \n Three Occupational Therapists]
    C --- E[Nine Senior Environmental Health Officers \n Two Pest Control Officers \n Two Business Support Clerks \n Stray Dog Control Contract]
    D --- F[Apprentice Environmental Health Officer]
    E --- F

The health and safety service of Rother District Council costs £93,530.

The work is carried out by the Food and Safety Team as part of the shared Environmental Health service and interlinks with neighbouring local authorities, Health and Safety Executive and Regulatory Delivery (Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy).

Work Achieved 2022 – 23 and Plan for 2023 – 24

Our work plan uses a range of interventions, advice and guidance, spotting safety problems during food hygiene/licensing inspections, reactive investigations into accidents and complaints, taking appropriate actions and working with partners on traditional Sussex bonfires.

8.1 Provision of advice and guidance

1. Rother DC offers advice to business through its Support and advice page
   There is a range of local and national advice including specific information for rural businesses, local partnerships and regeneration projects.
2. Rother District Council offers support for those starting up new businesses at Advice, support and training page
   Environmental Health Officers offer advice on health and safety at work including those thinking of starting a new business. 
   Health and safety – the basics for business – is at Health and safety at work – the basics for business

8.2 Matters of Evident Concern

During food hygiene and licensing inspections, officers may spot safety problems which need immediate action to remediate the risk. These matters of evident concern may not be the reason the officer is on site but are self-evident and could lead to serious personal injury or illness. In 2023-4 it was obvious that businesses were struggling with costs, officers found gas appliances operating without up-to-date certification. Cost cutting was also applied to electrical fittings.

8.3 Accident and Incident investigations

i. All reported accidents, incidents (RIDDOR or adverse insurance reports) and complaints are subjected to the HSE’s incident selection criteria and complaints handling criteria.  This means that each complaint is investigated if it poses a significant risk to safety or health. The full policy is available at Food and Health and Safety Complaint Investigation Policy – Rother District Council

ii. Thirty-nine accidents at work were reported to Rother DC in 2023-4. The majority of these were slips trips and falls. A report was received about a gas explosion at a hotel, which caused the evacuation of the entire hotel, including a wedding. All emergency services attended, one person sustained serious burns and numerous others minor burns, cuts, bruises and shock. Two Environmental Health Officers began an investigation, taking statements from injured people and witnesses. An expert inspected the gas appliance involved. The HSE requested that the specialist gas safety team take the investigation over.

iii. Thirty-one service requests were received from the public in 2023-24 about safety standards within businesses. Many concerned safety standards within the tourism and leisure sector. Safety of children’s play equipment, holiday accommodation and entertainment venues. These concerns were addressed by phone, email, and visits. When contraventions were confirmed, businesses were given a period to comply. Compliance was confirmed by digital photographs or site visits.

8.4 Prosecution

Rother District Council v Mr A Sehmi of Crowhurst Care Home.

Employees of Crowhurst Care Home contacted the Environmental Health Service as they were concerned about the safety of the care home’s gas cooker. They reported that the care homeowner had fitted a replacement gas cooker, without being a qualified competent Gas Safe registered engineer. Employees warned the owner of their concerns, but he disregarded these and told the care team to cook the evening meal on the replacement cooker.

The worker who prepared the evening meal attended A&E that evening with a heavy headache and disorientation. Other employees reported the pungent smell of gas in the kitchen. The owner was notified, and emergency gas engineers were called. The cooker was found to be in a dangerous state and was disconnected.

Alternative arrangements were made to ensure all the residents continued to receive hot meals. Environmental Health Officers began an investigation, taking statements from care workers, interviewing the owner.

The case was heard in the Crown Court in Brighton on 5th September 2023. The owner, Mr A Sehmi apologised to Lewes Crown Court for his behaviour, saying he would never touch a gas appliance again. The court considered a suspended sentence, but the judge decided that this would not be appropriate because “you do not need to be a gas engineer to understand the risk of gas”. The judge continued “you ultimately decided to install a cooker. You created a risk of serious injury or death when you had increased responsibility for vulnerable persons and members of the public nearby.” Mr Sehmi was sentenced to serve three months in prison followed by a twelve-month supervision order. Full costs of £13,821 were awarded to Rother DC. The care home closed, and all residents were accommodated elsewhere.

8.5 Safety Advisory Groups

iv. Traditional Sussex bonfires and large outdoor entertainments are held throughout the district. Some of these events are held on Council owned land and attract very large numbers of visitors. These events can pose crushing and burning risks in crowds. This work is recognised as a national priority as suitable for proactive intervention by local authorities to prevent injuries to members of the public.

v. To protect public safety Rother DC chairs Safety Advisory groups for Battle, Robertsbridge, Rye, Northiam, Ewhurst & Staplecross bonfire celebrations. RDC also chair safety advisory groups for Party in the Park Polegrove and events on private land such as The Rye Jazz festival.

vi. The aim of the Safety Advisory Group is to bring together the organisers, bonfire society and the local authority with Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue, Southeast Coast Ambulance to review the safety plans for the event. The plans are discussed, and advice is given, where needed, to all parties to improve arrangements.

vii. In 2023-4 five SAG meetings were held, some in person, others online, to review risk assessments and event arrangements. This was the first full year without the involvement of the Sussex Police planning unit. The subsequent involvement of Sussex Police was restricted to attendance by the local inspector. Minimal contributions were made by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS).

viii. The limited support of Sussex Police and ESFRS for the safety advisory process caused a decrease in confidence in the remaining members of the group. This work will be kept under review and should Sussex Police not be able to support this years SAGs, Rother DC will have to consider withdrawing from this work.

8.6 Plan for 2024 – 25

ix. We will continue giving advice to businesses, responding to complaints from the public, investigating acidents and taking enforcement where necessary. We will keep the safety advisory group work under review.

x. We will raise awareness of the need to report accidents at work through the RIDDOR system www.hse.gov.uk/riddor. The number of accident reports received are very small (39 in 2023-4), compared to the number of businesses in Rother (3819 in July 2024). Not all accidents are reportable, not all businesses in Rother are subject to local authority health and safety enforcement, but we would expect to receive more than a hundred reported accidents annually. We plan a campaign to remind all businesses of their obligations about accidents at work.

xi. There have been several serious incidents where inflatable amusement devices have collapsed or blown away in windy conditions. Inflatables can be found at many local premises, and we will raise awareness of the general risks associated with the operation of such devices. That devices are correctly anchored to the ground, there are suitable arrangements for measuring wind conditions at regular intervals, there is written documentation from a competent inspection body to show it complies with British Standard BS EN 14960.  Full details at Inflatables – Rother District Council

xii. Many hospitality venues have extended their space to make the most of outdoor areas. We will urge pubs, restaurants, and cafés to ensure outdoor electrical equipment such as lights and heaters are specifically designed for outdoor use, installed by a competent person, and checked regularly for damage or water ingress. If we identify problems, we will take action to ensure the electrical fittings are made safe. (National Priority No.6).

xiii. Many high street food outlets have a pressurised coffee machine, which should be subject to regular servicing to ensure the correct pressure is maintained. During food inspections, we will check the correct servicing has been completed and if not, we will act. This is a local campaign.

8.7 Working with other regulators

The Food and Safety team will continue to work with Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire and Rescue, Southeast Coast Ambulance on safety at traditional bonfire events, other outdoor events and modern-day slavery (project discovery).

Special Project – Funeral Directors

In April 2024 all local authorities received a request from the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Local Government and Levelling Up, that we carry out visits to all local funeral homes. This unexpected and unusual request follows the criminal investigation into Legacy Funeral Directors in Hull, and other similar cases.

Four-week update on Legacy Funeral Directors investigation | Humberside Police

This project is to “reassure the public that local funeral directors are safe, professional and care for loved ones as we would want”. We have been asked to do a basic check that funeral directors comply with health and safety legislation regarding buildings, vehicles and equipment.

The greater part of the project is about ensuring the dignity and condition of persons in the funeral directors care; traceability through the funeral procedure and transparency for families. The information collected is to be provided to the two government departments, for their consideration.

We have also been asked to gather information on funeral plans and to report our findings to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Where appropriate we will give advice to funeral directors. Should we suspect or uncover criminal activity, we will liaise with Sussex Police.

Although health and safety law applies to funeral directors, there is no sector specific legislation. In 2020 the Competition and Markets Authority recommended that independent regulation was needed, which HM Government has agreed to.

Preparations for this project are complete and visits have begun. The findings of this project will be reported to the portfolio holder.

Resources

The number of full-time equivalent officers allocated to work on health and safety regulatory activity is 1.6. The list below is of all officers authorised by Rother DC under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. Note EHORB is the Environmental Health Officers Registration Board.

Environmental Health Officer	Additional Qualification	Level Authorisation	Level of Authorisation Enforcement
EDWARDS Simon	EHORB registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
HOYLAND Richard	EHORB registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
KAMUNDA Maybee	EHORB registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
KANE Una	EHORB registration Env Health Degree Health and Safety Diploma	A-E	Full
OGINNI Oladayo	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
PIPER Richard	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
POWELL Jamie	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
SIMMONDS Rachel	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
WHITCOMBE Ann	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
WRIGHT Philip	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full

Environmental Health Officers outside the Food, Safety team who are also authorised:

Surname	First name	Job Title
PARKER-HARDING	Richard	Head of Environmental Health
MINNS	Greg	Senior Environmental Health Officer
RANDOLPH	Mark	Senior Environmental Health Officer
BEAUMONT	Cathy	Deputy head of Environmental Health
BIGGS	Steve	Senior Environmental Health Officer

Database

During 2023-4 a new cloud-based database was brought into use – Idox Tascomi. Every accident report, service request, investigation etc is recorded on the database. The Environmental Health Manager provided training for all members of FAST, including written procedure notes.

Reference Materials

All reference materials and internal work procedures are stored on the RIAMS website. In addition, there is material available on the HSE’s general website and secure extranet site, a library of law encyclopaedias and reference books is maintained in the office.

Competency and Consistency of Officers

The shared Environmental Health service between Wealden and Rother has created resilience, improving collective knowledge and experience. Rother District Council is active within the Sussex Liaison Group, bringing together local authorities engaged in health and safety enforcement.

Annual appraisals are conducted to identify training needs which form an annual training programme. In 2023-4 training was about maintaining health and safety skills for accident investigations.

In July 2023 the team participated in a fatal accident exercise. This day long session involved every member of the team from the initial phone call to business support, to investigating officers, gathering evidence and writing statements, ready for a court appearance.

During 2023-4 team meetings were usually held every six weeks in person. At each team meeting service requests are peer reviewed to generate discussions and promote consistency. Full notes of meetings are available on the internet library FAST Team Meetings | RIAMS. 

Complaints Against Service

Rother operates a local complaints procedure which allows anyone dissatisfied with the Council’s service to pursue their complaint and expect a quick response. No complaints were made against the service in 2023 – 24, no ombudsman complaints were received either.

Customer Survey

A proportion of businesses are contacted online to seek their views on how we perform. These responses are collated and contribute to the performance management monitoring and reporting carried out by the Environmental Health Service. This includes acting where performance does not meet the expected standards.

Disclosure of Information

It is Rother’s policy that disclosures will be made on receipt of a written application under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Agreed and Approval

This Service Plan has been authorised by the Head of Service, following consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder.

It is published on our website and in the Members’ Bulletin.

Signed: R Parker-Harding

Mr R Parker-Harding BSc (Hons) MSc DMS CEnvH MCIEH AMIOA
Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner
Head of Service- Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety

Dated: 2 September 2024

Signed; Cllr K Field
Councillor K Field
Cabinet Portfolio Holder

Dated: 2 September 2024

CONTACT DETAILS

Address: Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex TN39 3JX
Website: www.rother.gov.uk
E-mail: foodhs@rother.gov.uk
Telephone: 01424-787550