Service of Enforcement Notices
Regulators such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), local authorities or Environment Agency (EA) have a well equipped toolbox to help them ensure compliance with health and safety and environmental law.
Where officers think that an offence is being committed or will be committed, there are a range of statutory notices which they can serve to stop particular activities, prevent further work being undertaken or to require that certain steps be taken. Such notices include Improvement Notices, Prohibition Notices, Suspension Notices, Anti-Pollution Works Notices and Compliance Notices.
If your business is served with one of these notices, the day to day running of your business could be seriously affected and could result in lost business if contractual obligations cannot be honoured or substantial costs are incurred complying with the requirements of the notices.
For those companies receiving any of these notices, it is important to ensure that the notice is appropriate, achievable in its demands and legally accurate. If not, these notices can and should be appealed.
The service of a notice cannot be taken lightly. The HSE and EA maintain registers - which are publicly accessible - of those businesses served with particular types of statutory notices. Customers and competitors can therefore search for this information and this may influence their decisions.
Our expert Health, Safety and Environmental team can help you if your business is served with a statutory notice. We can support you by:
- understanding the terms and scope of the notices
- appreciating the practical impact it will have on your business
- advising on the satisfaction of the terms of the notices
- negotiating with the regulatory inspectors as to the detailed provisions of the notice
- appealing notices through the tribunals and courts where required
To arrange a discussion with a health, safety and environment solicitor click here or call us on 0800 840 4929.
