From 1 September, a million pounds worth of publications’ content is freely available to visitors of the HSE website.

In a major initiative, HSE is allowing free downloads of some 230 publications containing health and safety guidance for a multitude of industries, in addition to detailed information on regulations and codes or practice.

The Board agreed access to advice, guidance and regulation should not be limited to those who are prepared to pay for it. The change will improve access to important information, aid compliance in the workplace and reinforce our ongoing commitment to health and safety.  It also demonstrates our commitment to helping small businesses, and supporting managers, employees and health and safety professionals in organisations of all sizes who want to do the right thing.

Around 50 or so of the 230 publications are now available in a fully accessible ‘printer friendly’ PDF format through the HSE website. The other 180 PDFs will be converted to the ‘printer friendly’ format by the end of March 2010.

Visitors to the HSE website will be offered the options of buying the publication or downloading the PDF.

The content of the online and hard copy versions will be identical in substance, if not in form. This means that both the online and hard copy versions will have an identical status in the event of any proceedings.

HSE’s head of business John Lack said the decision taken by the HSE Board was a direct response to the needs of industry. He said: "Having listened to our stakeholders, the Board has agreed that charging for health and safety guidance and advice' may present a barrier to compliance.

This is a fantastic opportunity for all businesses, safety representatives and workers in GB to access HSE publications free of charge which will greatly enhance compliance with regulation and best practice."

He added: "Recognising there will still be users who require or prefer HSE’s guidance in hard copy formats. HSE will continue to sell high quality book formats of its guidance, as well as posters and DVD's."

Copyright status on the publications has also been amended to encourage re-use – organisations will no longer have to pay for licensing to reproduce contents.

Publications from the HSE can be found at the following link: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/index.htm