Janet Cox of Perry Scott Nash
A leading Environmental Health and CDM consultancy has claimed that proposals to charge contractors for visits made by Health and Safety officials – if they find the site breaches safety rules – will cost the industry £5m per year.
The consultation period for the HSE’s proposal ended this week but the HSE is already conducting trials for charging for visits and the issuing of letters or enforcement notices. The regime is planned for implementation from April 2012.
Commenting, Janet Cox, Client Services Director, at leading environmental health and CDM experts, Perry Scott Nash, said: "Businesses are told that if they have done nothing wrong then they need not worry – there will be no fees for HSE activity. And also, they are told that if they have done something wrong it must be a ‘material breach’ of the legislation and only if this is the case, will they be charged, which is likely to be £1500 for every notice.
"In the construction industry during 2010, the HSE served over 3500 enforcement notices. If each earned them £1500 then they would have had an income from the construction sector alone of over £5M and that’s just for serving enforcement notices in one year. HSE propose charges for their time when conducting visits, writing letters, serving enforcement notices, revisiting when they need to assess whether notices have been complied with, investigating accidents and when gathering evidence for prosecutions…some would say, all a nice little earner!! She says that what constitutes a material breach isn’t always cut and dry.
"There are other stings in the tail. If you want to appeal any of their charges, the appeal route is … to the HSE. Judge and Jury. Will fee for fault/intervention change the enforcement model and be better for businesses? Probably not, as we could see more enforcement activity – it will generate revenue – and more and more concerns about inconsistent enforcement and subjective interpretation of the law", says Cox.
She added: "The Consultation paper asks whether the fee for fault/intervention principle should be applied to the local government sector – charges for EHO visits, Trading Standards, Licensing Officer visits. Will this be the thin end of the wedge?"
Contracting organisations have said that charging for when a serious breach has occurred is fair and reasonable, but are concerned that there is no independent process in place for firms that want to contest H&S rulings.Gordon MacDonald, HSE programme director said: "The government has agreed that it is right that those who break the law should pay their fair share of the costs to put things right, and not the public purse."
