Health and safety responsibilities for the Metropolitan Police Authority

Report: 7
Date: 06 September 2002
By: Clerk

Summary

At present, chief constables are personally liable for prosecution for breaches of section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSAWA). Although the position in respect of civil staff is not entirely clear, it is thought that liability here already rests with police authorities as the 'employer'. However, changes introduced by the Police Reform Act will place legal responsibility for health and safety matters on police authorities.

Although the responsibilities of chief officers will remain unchanged in practice, i.e. they will still lead on a day to day basis on health and safety issues, the strategic oversight role of police authorities in relation to health and safety matters will need to be enhanced significantly, and police authorities will need specialist and independent advice in order to carry out their role properly.

A. Recommendation

That

1. Members discuss the issues outlined at Appendix 1 of the report; and
2. a lead member be nominated to sit on the Association of Police Authorities (APA) Health and Safety Liaison Member Network which will meet three to four times per year.

B. Supporting information

1. Currently, chief constables are personally liable for prosecution for breaches of section 2 of the HSAWA, although it is thought that liability here already rests with police authorities as the employer. The decision to seek a change of liability for police officers was prompted by Ministers concerns about forthcoming cases in which one or more chief constables are being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

2. The Association of Police Authorities (APA) is now involved in discussions with the Home Office, the HSE and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to consider the implications of this policy change in more detail. The Clerk sits on the relevant working party, along with Assistant Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe. Although the responsibilities of chief officers will remain unchanged, i.e. they will still lead on a day to day basis on health and safety issues, the strategic oversight role of police authorities in relation to health and safety matters will need to be enhanced significantly, and police authorities will need specialist and independent advice in order to carry out their role properly.

Legal liability

3. Further work is needed to explore precisely the extent of the legal liability for police authorities as corporate bodies, to assess the extent to which any individual member or officer of an authority might be liable for prosecution as a result of this change and to consider the implications of this accordingly.

Clarity on roles and responsibilities

4. Because of the interlinked, but separate, roles of police authorities and the Commissioner there will need to be clarity on the precise roles, responsibilities and expectations on each. The Home Office plan to develop Codes of Practice setting out the specific responsibilities of police authorities and chief officers, which will be crucial in terms of ensuring police authorities have the necessary powers to ensure action is taken on health and safety matters as they arise.

Formal procedures

5. HSE improvement notices will, in future, be made against the MPA. On receipt of such notices, the Authority will need to require the Commissioner to provide a draft action plan in response to the notice, which the Authority will need to scrutinise and on which it may need independent advice, and to monitor the implementation of the agreed action plan.

Oversight

6. The following will be pre-requisites of the new arrangements:

• A formal annual report from the Commissioner to the MPA setting out his assessment of health and safety matters within the force and proposing a draft action plan to enhance health and safety issues for the coming year. The MPA will need to assess the robustness of this report and the draft action plan, to make any adjustments that it thinks necessary and to take this report into account in setting the budget for the year;
• Robust monitoring against the plan, on a regular basis throughout the year;
• Structures and processes will need to be established or examined in order that the MPA can be satisfied that those for dealing with health and safety matters are robust and follow best practice guidance;
• Risk assessments – the MPA will need to be satisfied that the MPS has clear policies and practices for carrying out risk assessments, and for ensuring that the outcome of risk assessments are applied in practice;
• Auditing –processes and practices will need to be audited to test for health and safety compliance; and
• Training – the MPA will need to be satisfied that all staff are sufficiently aware of their health and safety responsibilities. This will need to include training of appropriate MPA members and officers.

Strategic national issues

7. At a more strategic level, the Home Office have agreed to re-establish the Home Office Standing Committee on Health and Safety which should, in theory, provide strategic direction for health and safety policy. The APA will play a much more proactive role on this Committee in order to ensure more effective strategic direction is provided right across the health and safety agenda and is setting up its own network to debate key issues and disseminate good practice.

8. The APA have asked that the APA policy statement attached at Appendix 1 is circulated to members.

C. Equality and diversity implications

There are no direct equality or diversity implications.

D. Financial implications

There may be significant financial implications both in terms of specialist advice and potentially, any civil action settlements. There will also be resource implications both in terms of members and officers time.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Alan Johnson, MPA.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1 - Health and Safety in the Police Service: A Police Authority Perspective

Introduction

1. This paper has been prepared by the APA to provide a police authority perspective on the application of health and safety legislation in the police service. It has been prepared to inform the APA's input to a review commissioned by the Home Office looking at the future application of legislation in this area, and in the light of the Government's decision, through the Police Reform Act 2002, to transfer legal liability for health and safety matters from the chief constable to police authorities.

Police authorities and health and safety issues

2. Input to health and safety issues by police authorities has, to date, been relatively minor. In most areas, health and safety matters have been viewed as 'operational' and therefore effectively the exclusive preserve of the Chief Constable. . However, as the new style police authorities have begun to become more fully established over the last few years, this situation has gradually been changing, with authorities recognising that the strategic management of health and safety matters is intrinsically linked with goes to the heart of the efficient and effective of policing – the delivery of which is the core police authority statutory responsibility. Within the current legislative framework, it is, in our view, absolutely right that police authorities should scrutinise the application of health and safety legislation within the force in respect to how this impacts on overall efficiency and effectiveness, and to hold the chief constable to account in this important area.

3. Police authorities, as the body setting the budget, are also have been more involved - although not necessarily in the past proactively - in handling the financial impact of health and safety matters, including in agreeing budgetary provision around health and safety issues and, when things have gone wrong, meeting the costs, including of court action against the chief constable. However, we have no central statistics on this at present.

The future

4. The full implications of the proposed change of legal liability on health and safety matters have yet to be identified. In particular, further clarity is needed on the extent to which the change might result in personal liability falling on an individual police authority member or clerk. However, it is clear that the transfer will bring added clarity and importance to the above strategic role. Nevertheless, there remain important practical issues still to be resolved. For example, Health and Safety legislation places certain duties on the responsible authority which the police authority may find difficult to discharge in practice given the separation of responsibilities set out in the Police Act 1996.

5. The changes in the role of certain support staff, particularly the introduction of community support officers, also add to the complexity of the task facing police authorities. In the case of support staff, though, PCSOs, for example, will not have the level of personal discretion that arises directly from the office of constable. However, if operating in the public domain, they may be subject to the same expectations as police officers in terms of intervening and acting in a wide range of circumstances, no matter how dangerous or unpredictable.

Health and safety matters: APA policy framework

6. The APA considers that legislation on health and safety matters is entirely appropriate in a policing context. It is entirely right that police authorities and police managers work to ensure that all police staff work in an environment that is as safe as the job allows. The nature of the work – as a first line emergency service – is not a reason in itself not to operate within a health and safety centred culture. The principles of health and safety legislation apply in most circumstances regardless of the emergency nature of the police business.

Special nature of policing

7. That said, there are clearly differences between some roles within the police service, which by comparison with others, and with and with some police roles and other employment sectors, give rise to particular tensions between the job and the requirements of the legislation. . While health and safety principles should still apply, there does need to be a clear understanding between all parties concerned on the rubbing points between the policing role and health and safety legislation and, more importantly, in the practical application of that legislation to and by police officers and support staff, managers and the Health and Safety Executive.

Public expectations

8. A key factor here, and one that is particularly important to police authorities as representatives of local communities, centres on public expectations. The public do expect police officers to undertake dangerous tasks and to enter dangerous situations, regardless of the outcome of any risk assessment even if one had been undertaken. Moreover, the tasks faced by police officers are often, by their nature, unplanned and unpredictable, and so the opportunity for risk assessments to be undertaken is often limited. As noted in paragraph 5 above, CSOs may be faced with the same expectations, while possibly holding a lower level of competence and skill.

9. It is important that police officers – and any support staff deployed on operational duties – are trained fully in how to weigh up risks and minimise those risks. And there is a role here also for managers and those in command and control centres to support officers on the front line in this task. But there must, in our view, be an acknowledgement that individual officers may decide on a case by case basis that the needs and expectations of the job – that is, the expectations of someone in whom the special powers of a police constable have been vested – outweigh the risks.

10. If this is not accepted, there is a danger that public confidence in the police could erode and that this could lead to an (undesirable) pressure to exempt the police service entirely from the scope of the health and safety legislation..

11. A similar issue arises in respect of the application of health and legislation to those with whom the police come into contact in carrying out their role – for example, issues arising from car chases. Again, because this relates direct to operational policy, and the specific powers of a police constable, it is not always clear that senior managers, or those responsible under health and safety legislation, can have a direct impact.

What does this mean for the application of health and safety legislation?

12. Set out below are a number of factors which the APA considers should continue to form the basis of the development of an effective health and safety culture and environment in the police service. It is hoped that the meeting on 24 July will explore the extent to which they are currently in operation and the scope of further development:

Legislation: Legislation must continue to reflect the fact that health and safety principles must be applied as far as the job reasonably allows. That judgment should take account of public confidence in the police and public expectations;

Office of Constable: The office of police constable is a unique role. Every police officer has a degree of discretion to act in response to particular situations and cannot otherwise be directed by a more senior officer. Training, guidance and support from the centre (command and control, for example) can help to inform individual decisions. But officers will on occasions inevitably act in response to an emergency situation – or in pursuit of a suspect – in an environment that is not safe. Proactive work can be undertaken to minimise those risks. But risks will remain – and discretion ultimately rests with those officers on the ground at the time.

Managers / Command and Control: As noted above, the APA would want to see explored further the extent to which further support can be provided by managers and professionals within command and control centres to support front line officers in making judgement calls and weighing up risks.

Home Office Regulations and Codes: Will the Home Office become liable in respect of any health and safety issues arising directly from the application of Regulations or Codes issued by the Home Secretary?

Learning the Lessons: The APA considers that more could be done proactively to learn from incidents and share the lessons across the service. How can risks be reduced in individual incidents? Are we really sharing good practice at the moment?

Strategic Understanding: The APA considers that both at a national and local level there would be benefit in greatly enhancing the dialogue between the police service and the Health and Safety Executive, to increase understanding of their respective roles and to gain a better and more informed understanding on both sides about what are considered to be 'reasonable adjustments' in relation to health and safety issues.

Strategic Coordination: There is a need for the Government, the police service and the Health and Safety Executive to work more collectively in setting the strategic framework for health and safety matters in the police service, to explore strategic issues openly, for maintaining dialogue and driving health and safety matters within the service.

Training: Time is right to review the current provision of training with respect to health and safety issues.

Police authorities: Need to be better informed and need better advice in order properly and effectively to carry out their existing responsibilities and any new responsibilities flowing from legislative change. Police authorities Also may also need advice independent of the force in order fully to discharge their scrutiny role.

Conclusions

13. This papers sets out the initial views of the APA. It will be developed in the light of discussions with police authorities and other stakeholders.

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