Less than 2 years after the Government made significant cuts to the HSE a small article in the press nearly passed us by at SAMS Ltd. The article stated that the HSE was about to launch a recruiting drive for Inspectors and given the recent round of cuts the question of why this was happening came to our mind.
When looked at, it was found that it followed very closely on the HSE announcing that significant funding was being received by the HSE around Fee For Intervention (FFI) as system whereby the HSE charge, at a rate of £124 per hour, the heads of company’s and other organisations for any material breach of safety regulations found during an investigation. The fees attracted range from between £1,500 for lower level activity and in excess of £100k for serious breaches giving rise to death or life changing injuries.
Also as a result of the cuts the Government focused the HSE upon the higher risk industries such as construction, transport, agriculture etc. and certainly a series of industry specific campaigns have, or will be taking place, focusing upon these industries.
With figures around the growing economy within the UK it appears that one of the fastest growing economies is around safety enforcement which means that proactive activity must be expected in the near future – The writing is not only in the walls it is also in the fees.
At SAMS Ltd we can assist by working with companies and organisations to ensure that minimum standards are not only met but are exceeded to help company owners, directors etc. to be able to defend against such action by the HSE which includes offering support in developing robust safety systems and in the delivery of a range of training from NEBOSH, IOSH, UKATA Asbestos Awareness training as well as a range of other classroom and e-learning based safety training.