The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed that its enforcement cost recovery scheme, Fee for Intervention (FFI), will start on 1 October 2012 (subject to Parliamentary approval).

The scheme will allow inspectors discovering a material breach of health and safety guidelines / standards / requirements to charge the duty holder £124 per hour for their time following a notification letter produced after their initial visit.
FFI was originally due to begin in April 2012 but was postponed until October to allow final details to be defined such as appeals processes. Fees will be based on the amount of the time the inspector spends identifying the breach, helping the duty holder to put it right, and investigating and taking enforcement action. Cost recovery will stop at the point HSE’s intervention ends or prosecution proceedings begin (if warranted).

HSE has now published guidance on its website setting out how FFI will work in practice. Developed in consultation with representatives from industry, it includes examples illustrating how FFI will be applied by inspectors and information about how any disputes about charges will be resolved.

Gordon MacDonald, HSE’s programme director, said:

“Confirming the date for the start of Fee For Intervention and publishing the guidance will give duty holders clarity and certainty about the start of the scheme and what they can expect.
“We have worked with industry representatives in shaping the final form of the scheme and the published guidance explains how the scheme will work and what businesses can do to comply with the law and avoid incurring a fee.
“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. Firms who manage workplace risks properly will not pay.”

The main concerns of industry and ourselves as safety consultants are that the scheme is capable of damaging existing positive relationships between HSE and duty holders.  Further, with the HSE currently more than half way through a £80m cut in its central budget we would suggest that HSE could come under increasing pressure to alter its overall activities to maximise receipts from FFI as a way of funding itself in future.

The guidance on FFI can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/fee-for-intervention/index.htm