UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Lisa Lunt and Sarah Samuel, Fletchers Solicitors
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) The HSWA provides the principal framework for occu - pational health and safety in England and Wales, including obligations relating to products and equip - ment supplied for use at work. Key provisions include: • Section 6 Duties: Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of articles for use at work must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that products are safe and without risks to health when properly used, tested and maintained, and must provide adequate information and instruc - tions. • Ongoing Information Duties: Duty holders must keep users informed of relevant new risks or safety information as knowledge develops. • Burden of Proof: Where duties are qualified by the concept of “reasonable practicability”, Sec - tion 40 places the burden on the dutyholder to demonstrate that no further reasonably practicable measures could have been taken. 1.2 Regulatory Authorities for Product Safety Regulatory Authorities for Product Safety Product safety regulation in England and Wales operates through a combination of central govern - ment oversight, sector-specific regulators and local enforcement authorities. Responsibility is shared across a number of bodies, reflecting the breadth of products covered and the interaction between con - sumer, workplace and sector-specific safety regimes. Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is the principal national authority for product safety and standards. It sits within the Department for Business and Trade and provides scientific, technical and regu - latory expertise at a national level. The OPSS plays a co-ordinating role across the product safety sys - tem, supporting and, in certain cases, directing local enforcement activity. Its functions include market surveillance, product risk assessment, oversight of product recalls, and direct enforcement action in high-risk, nationally significant or technically complex cases. The OPSS also acts as
the UK’s central contact point for international product safety cooperation and information-sharing. Under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, the OPSS has wide enforcement powers, including the ability to issue statutory safety notices. These include suspension notices (temporarily preventing supply pending investigation), marking and warning requirements, withdrawal notices requiring removal of products from the supply chain, and recall notices requiring products already supplied to consumers to be returned. The OPSS also has information-gathering powers, including the ability to require documents or product samples where necessary to assess compli - ance. In practice, it plays a strategic role in manag - ing large-scale recalls and coordinating cross-border safety issues. Local authority Trading Standards services Local authority Trading Standards services are the pri - mary frontline enforcers of product safety legislation. They are responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and the product safety provisions of the Consumer Protec - tion Act 1987 within their local areas. Trading Standards officers carry out inspections, test products, investigate complaints and pursue enforce - ment action against non-compliant businesses. Their powers include issuing improvement, prohibition and recall notices, seizing and detaining unsafe goods, and bringing criminal prosecutions. While their remit is local, Trading Standards services often work closely with the OPSS on matters that have regional or nation - al implications. Border enforcement At the border, HM Revenue and Customs and UK Border Force play an important role in preventing unsafe or non-compliant products from entering the UK market. Working alongside Trading Standards and the OPSS, they have powers to detain and examine imported goods where there is suspicion of non-com - pliance with product safety requirements. Border intervention is particularly significant in relation to high-volume consumer imports and products sold through online marketplaces.
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