For help or advice on any of the areas noted below please contact Andy on 07900 558547, email andy@qscconsultancy.co.uk, or visit www.qscconsultancy.co.uk
What are fees for intervention (FFI)?
If you receive a visit from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and you are found to be breaking health and safety laws, HSE may recover its costs from you by charging a fee for the time and effort it spends on helping you to put the matter right, investigating and taking enforcement action.
Will FFI apply to me?
If you comply with the law you won’t pay a fee. FFI only applies to work carried out by HSE’s inspectors so if your business is inspected for health and safety by another regulator, such as local authority environmental health officers, it will not apply. FFI will apply to all businesses and organisations inspected by HSE, except for:
■ self-employed people who don’t put people at risk by their work;
■ those who are already paying fees to HSE for the work through other arrangements; and
■ those who deliberately work with certain biological agents.
What is a material breach?
A material breach is where you have broken a health and safety law and the inspector judges this is serious enough for them to notify you in writing. This will either be a notification of contravention, an improvement or prohibition notice, or a prosecution. Before deciding to notify you in writing, the inspector must apply the principles of #HSE’s Enforcement Policy Statement (www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse41.pdf) and Enforcement Management Model (www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/emm.pdf) to ensure their decision on the level of enforcement action is proportionate to the circumstances they see. Examples of material breaches include: not providing guards or effective safety devices to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery; or materials containing asbestos in a poor or damaged condition resulting in the potential to release asbestos fibres. The inspector’s written notification will make it clear which contraventions are material breaches where a fee is payable.
How much might it cost me?
The inspector will record the time they have spent identifying the material breach, helping you to put it right, investigating and taking enforcement action. This will include time spent:
■ carrying out visits (including all the time on site during which the material breach was identified);
■ writing notifications of contravention, improvement or prohibition notices, and reports;
■ taking statements; and
■ getting specialist support for complex issues. This total amount of time will be multiplied by the #FFI hourly rate to give you the amount you must pay. For the current FFI hourly rate, visit www.hse.gov.uk/fee-for-intervention/index.htm.
How do I pay?
HSE will send out invoices generally every two months and you will have 30 days to pay. Details about how to pay will be included on the invoice.
The current rate is £124 per hour (except where HSL or third-party involvement is required where the actual costs of the work will be recovered )
Need some help to ensure you are complying with the regulations
Contact us at :-
| Quality Systems Consultancy Ltd | www.qscconsultancy.co.uk/news | tel 07900 558547 | email andy@qscconsultancy.co.uk