It has been known for some time that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been planning to recoup some of the costs associated with visits to organisations by its inspectors.
A consultation on this was opened in July 2011, with the outcome debated by the HSE Board in December. As a result, charges will be introduced from April 2012, and will be applied whenever an inspector identifies something wrong during a visit. The charge will be known as a "fee for intervention", and will be an hourly rate of £124 for the inspector's time.
According to the HSE, the charges will apply "when in the inspector's opinion, there is a material breach of law requiring a formal regulatory intervention through a letter, email, instant visit report, notice or prosecution." The charge will kick in from the start of the visit during which the problem is highlighted, and will continue to accrue for the inspector's time until the issue is rectified.
So far, only high-risk organisations are likely to be visited by a HSE inspector, and if nothing is found to be wrong then the charges will not apply at all. Such inspections are in fact only likely where the HSE has a good reason to believe there has been a breach of the law.
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