Construction News

Fri March 29 2024

Related Information

HSE set to charge culprits £133 an hour

25 Jul 11 The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has published the first detailed look at how a new system will operate for recovering its costs from those who break health and safety laws.

HSE has opened a three-month consultation on how cost recovery for intervention will operate, having already agreed the underlying principle with government. The new scheme could apply from as early as April 2012 and the deadline for consultation responses is 14 October. Under the proposals, HSE will recover costs at current estimates of £133 per hour. Costs of any specialist support needed by HSE would also be passed on. Invoices will need to be paid in 30 days.

The changes put no new health and safety duties on businesses but they do place for the first time a duty on HSE to recover the costs of their interventions in certain circumstances. The changes relate to the discovery of a material breach, which is where there a failure to adhere to health and safety law that is identified by an inspector as requiring formal action. Fees would apply up to the point where HSE's intervention in supporting businesses in putting matters right has concluded.

"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,” said HSE's programme director Gordon MacDonald. "These proposals provide a further incentive for people to operate within the law, levelling the playing field between those who comply and those who don't. Compliant firms will not pay a penny in intervention fees. HSE already recovers its costs in a range of industries and we have considerable experience of making these schemes work.

Related Information

“We want to hear from as many people as possible about how we plan to operate the scheme, to help make its introduction as successful as possible."

The consultation document can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd235.htm

Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk

MPU
MPU

Click here to view latest construction news »