‘Health and safety regulators’ are public authorities whose primary purpose is to supervise the activities of third parties engaged in dangerous activities. Their aim is to provide protection from physical harm. This chapter examines the circumstances in which such regulators will be held liable in tort if their carelessness causes physical or economic losses to members of the public, or to those whose activities are the subject of the regulation. We consider other regulatory bodies, such as those concerned with planning and banking in Chapter 14, and we consider the potential liability of bodies concerned with providing information and warnings on health, but not with the direct regulation of potentially dangerous activities, in Chapter 18.
