DURHAM City Council has signed an agreement to promote health and safety at work.

It has joined County Durham's other district councils in working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Councillor Carol Woods, cabinet member for environment and leisure, said: "The City of Durham is continually working to improve workplaces by addressing any health and safety needs.

"We are pleased to be joining other authorities across County Durham in signing up to this agreement, as it shows our commitment to proactively addressing these issues."

The agreement is designed to build on the links between councils and the HSE, all of which have responsibilities for enforcing workplace health and safety standards.

The Government wants to see councils at the forefront of improving health and safety practices.

HSE regional director David Snowball said: "The signing of this agreement means that we will be working even more closely with the local authorities to make sure that people are as safe as possible, both in the workplace and as citizens.

"It gives us a new and practical way of working together so we can use our collective resources to tackle local, regional and national health and safety priorities."