Shifting the burden - Cost Recovery for health and safety interventions
21 February 2012
The HSE has now published its findings following a three-month consultation which ended on 14 October 2011.
HSE is proposing to recover costs from interventions at which a material breach is found. A material breach is where, in the opinion of an HSE inspector, there has been a breach of health and safety law that requires HSE's intervention in supporting the business putting matters right.
HSE is introducing "fee for intervention" for all costs of an inspection or investigation where a business is in material breach of the law. The new scheme could apply from as early as April 2012.
The proposed current estimate for "fee for intervention" is £133 per hour (now updated to £124).
How will HSE collect the money owed for these fees?
HSE will invoice businesses and expect them to pay within 30 days. To assist them with cash flow and accounting arrangements, it is expected that invoices will be issued on a monthly basis as costs are incurred rather than collating all costs into one invoice issued when all work has been completed. If they do not pay, normal credit control action will then be taken, i.e. a series of reminders, a final reminder and then recovery through the courts.
Will businesses be able to appeal?
HSE intends to implement a robust queries and disputes resolution procedure that is fair and transparent. Queries may arise from business regarding information in the invoice. If the query remains unresolved it will become a dispute. To focus on assisting business with genuine disputes, HSE proposes to recover the costs of handling disputes where the dispute is not upheld. It is proposed that this is based on the hourly rate relevant to the intervention multiplied by the time taken to resolve the dispute.
Are local authorities planning to recover costs in line the "fee for intervention"?
For the moment local authorities (LAs) are considered out of scope of "fee for intervention", but views on this are sought in the public consultation.
Businesses of less than 10 employees and genuine new start-ups would be exempt from all new domestic regulations. Ministers have confirmed that the self-employed will be out of scope for "fee for intervention" as long as they do not expose any other people to risks to their health or safety. This includes their employees and members of the public.
The full consultation document is available to download:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/outcome-on-consultation-235.pdf