Posted By Brian Dawson In my view it is possible, but unlikely, for an elected Member to be prosecuted (Section 36?) particularly as we move towards portfolio holders but I find it difficult to think of specific circumstances except exceptional acts of stupidity. One reason it is unlikely is that a Local Authority has a monitoring officer (usually a senior lawyer) who is responsible for drawing the attention of Members to any decisions they make which are unlawful. If Members ignore the monitoring officer it will be a matter for the District Auditor. I would also think a chief officer who failed to draw attention to a H&S issue in a report to Members would be failing in his/her duty and would probably be in breach of HASAWA. One message that should be put across is the importance of considering the H&S element of all the decisions that they make. Also the part they can play by asking searching questions.

Posted By Brian Dawson I might be wrong but I don't think Section 37 likely because of the precise wording of the section ( " - - - any similar officer". It could be(and has been)used against a chief officer or director. If Members ignor e h&s advice I believe this should be dealt with via the monitoring officer (& the role of the monitoring officer should be in the h&s Policy together with the responsibility of other senior officers to alert the monitoring officer) but if despite this they still make the decision against the advice I think S36 would be considered in addition to case against council (eg S2 or S3). I think it likely the district auditor would also be involved. Of course, this would only apply if not following the advice lead to the Council acting in breach of h&s legislation. The report to Members should indicate (where appropriate) that a particular course of action (or inaction) would be in breach of etc etc.

Posted By Jay Joshi When the HSC/E's guidance for Directors Responsibilities was published in 2001, the press release indicated that supplemantary guidance for "complex" organisations--that would include local authorities- would be published in Autumn. However, I understand that HSC/E is awaiting results of research and intend to do more research prior to making changes to the guidance etc. It appears that they may publish some of the areas not explicitly covered in the original guidance with an FAQ format on the HSE website. The answer to your question would be the specific roles of the councillors in the context of providing direction and leadership for the authority--that normally is the duty of "Directors" to implement. For example, if they are members of a specific health & safety joint committee that was responsible for health & safety resource decisions--which ultimately had a bearing on an undesirable outcome--they may be. Howvever this depends on the specifics of individual cases.