Government to charge firms £124 per hour for health and safety fails 24 September 2012

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) has confirmed that its cost recovery scheme – Fee for Intervention (FFI), which starts on 1 October 2012 – will cost companies in material breach £124 per hour.

Fee for Intervention (FFI) aims to recover costs from those who break health and safety laws for the time and effort HSE spends helping to put matters right such as, investigating, writing reports and taking enforcement action.

The hourly rate charged by inspectors for health and safety failures is revealed in recently published guidance notes.

"FFI will apply whenever an inspector: identifies a contravention of health and safety law; is of the opinion that the contravention is serious enough to require written notification; and notifies the person contravening the law of their opinion, in writing," explains Chris Hall, managing partner at health and safety consultancy Lighthouse Risk Services.

"Apart from knowing the hourly rate, businesses will have no way of knowing what the final bill will come to until the very end of the case," he adds.

Hall suggests that, as of today, there appears to be no room for discussion or negotiation until the case comes to a conclusion. "The first time that a business can raise an objection is when they receive the invoice for the investigation," he explains.

Brian Tinham

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