SAFETY CONSULTING
Health and Safety Legal Advice for UK and Irish Employers
A phone and email advisory line answered by a CMIOSH-chartered practitioner, not a call-centre script. Ask what the regulations actually require of you, what an inspector will look for, and what to do about a notice that landed this morning.
What you can ask
Three Kinds of Question, One Number to Call
Most calls fall into one of three groups. All of them are answered by a chartered practitioner who spends the rest of the week on client sites. That is why the answer tends to arrive with a practical next step attached.
Duties, Regulations and Who Is Responsible
What the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management Regulations 1999 require of you specifically, and where the duty sits when contractors, landlords and clients all have a hand in the work.
- Competent person appointments under Regulation 7
- Duty-holder questions under CDM 2015 and the Irish Construction Regulations
- Where accountability actually lands
Enforcement, Notices and Inspector Visits
An inspector is on site, or a notice has arrived, and you need to know what it means and what the clock is. We work through the options with you the same day, including whether an appeal is worth lodging.
- Improvement and prohibition notices, and the 21-day appeal window
- Fee for Intervention queries and how to challenge them
- What to have ready before the revisit
Reporting, Incidents and Documentation
Whether an event is reportable, to whom, and inside what window. We also review the documentation you would be judged on, because most enforcement starts with a paperwork gap rather than a dramatic failure.
- RIDDOR and Irish HSA notification thresholds
- Risk assessment and RAMS adequacy reviews
- Client and tender compliance questionnaires
Where the line sits
We Are Chartered Safety Practitioners, Not Solicitors
Search for health and safety legal advice and most of what comes back is law firms. For some problems that is the right answer. For most of the questions employers actually have it is not, so it is worth being clear about what we do.
We advise on health and safety law as competent persons under Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. That covers what your duties are, whether your arrangements discharge them, what an inspector will ask, and what to fix first. It is the advice you need for the questions that arrive weekly.
What we do not do is act as your solicitor. Prosecutions, corporate manslaughter investigations, civil claims and anything requiring legal privilege belong with a regulatory law firm. We will say so on the first call rather than bill you to find out. Where a matter runs on both tracks, we work alongside your solicitor as the technical expert on the safety evidence.
- What a regulation requires of you in practice
- Whether an incident is reportable, and by when
- An improvement or prohibition notice that has landed
- An inspector visit, before or after
- Whether your documentation would survive scrutiny
- A prosecution or an interview under caution
- Corporate manslaughter proceedings
- Civil personal injury claims
- Anything needing legal privilege
What 150+ Years of Chartered Experience Looks Like
When the phone rings
Four Situations That Cannot Wait For Monday
Safety problems keep inconvenient hours. Out-of-hours access to the founder is part of how this practice has always worked, and these are the calls that use it.
An inspector has turned up
You need to know what they can require, what you must produce, and what to say. We talk you through the visit while it is happening, and afterwards we help you answer whatever they left behind.
A notice has landed
An improvement notice sets a deadline of at least 21 days; a prohibition notice can stop work immediately. Both carry a 21-day appeal window. We work out which route serves you and what evidence the revisit needs.
Something has happened on site
First question is whether it is reportable under RIDDOR or to the Irish HSA, and inside what window. We answer that, then get an investigator moving if the event warrants one.
A client is auditing you
A tender questionnaire or a tier-one client audit asks for arrangements you are not sure you have. We review what you hold, tell you where the gaps are, and prioritise the ones that would actually fail you.
Related engagements
When Advice Needs To Become Work
The advisory line sits inside our wider Safety Consulting service, which is the practical difference between a helpline and a practice. If the call ends with something that has to be built, audited or staffed, the same chartered team does it.
Audits and Inspections
When the answer is that you will not survive the next inspection, this is the gap-registered audit that finds out what an inspector would, in one chartered visit.
Safety Policy Development
When the gap is documentation, we author the RAMS, Method Statements and Safe Systems of Work rather than sending you a template to fill in.
HSE Recruitment
When the honest answer is that you need a safety officer rather than an advisory line, we place one, with a 48-hour mobilisation commitment in writing.
What clients say
Reachable When It Actually Matters
The thing clients mention first is not the technical knowledge, it is that someone competent picks up. These are their words, verbatim.
“Gavin is always a phone call away and has always provided a professional and supportive service… on many occasions at very short notice and outside of business hours.”
“Coyle Group offers a fresh pair of eyes: he will often spot the potential for hazard.”
“Gavin has supplied competent EHS personnel… we want to go further, making all our plants safer.”
Questions employers ask first
Health and Safety Legal Advice Questions Answered
Is this legal advice from a solicitor?
No, and we would rather be plain about that than let you find out later. Coyle Group is a chartered health and safety practice, not a firm of solicitors. What we provide is competent-person advice on health and safety law and the duties it places on you. That means what the regulations require, whether your arrangements meet them, and what to do next. Some matters need a solicitor instead: a prosecution, a corporate manslaughter investigation, or anything requiring privileged legal representation. We will tell you so on the first call rather than after the invoice.
What are the legal requirements for health and safety in the UK?
The foundation is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees so far as is reasonably practicable. Sitting under it, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you to assess risks and put arrangements in place. They also require you to appoint one or more competent persons to help you comply. Sector regulations add to that: CDM 2015 in construction, RIDDOR 2013 for reporting, COSHH for substances. In Ireland the equivalent duties sit in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the General Application Regulations.
Can we just ask the HSE for advice instead?
Partly, and you should use what they publish. The HSE offers extensive free guidance and its inspectors can give advice during a visit. What the HSE will not do is act as your adviser. They are the regulator, they will not review your risk assessments as a service, and anything you disclose goes to an enforcing authority. That is the gap a competent-person adviser fills. We also point clients at the free sources first where the free source is genuinely enough.
What is classed as a serious breach of health and safety?
In enforcement terms, seriousness is judged on the risk of harm created rather than on whether anyone was actually hurt. Inspectors look at how far the conduct fell below what was required, how foreseeable the harm was, and how many people were exposed. Failing to control a known high-consequence risk such as work at height, excavations or isolation of live plant sits at the serious end, as does ignoring a previous warning. Breaches at that level attract prohibition notices, and under the Sentencing Council guidelines fines are set against turnover, which is why large organisations see seven-figure penalties.
What should we do if we receive an improvement or prohibition notice?
Call someone the same day, because both notices run on clocks. A prohibition notice stops the activity immediately or from a specified date, and an improvement notice sets a compliance deadline of at least 21 days. You have 21 days to appeal to an employment tribunal, and appealing an improvement notice suspends it while a prohibition notice stays in force. We help you decide whether to comply, appeal, or both, and we write the remedial evidence pack the inspector will want to see on the revisit.
CMIOSH · Phone and email advisory
Ask The Question Before It Becomes A Notice
Tell us what has landed and we will tell you what it means, what the deadline is, and whether you need us, a solicitor, or nobody at all. Book a compliance consultation to put the advisory line on a retained footing.
Ask a Chartered Adviser