HSE Denies FFI Money Spinning

Switch Management Ltd recently read an article that Works Management produced. Selected elements of the article are below:

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has denied accusations of money spinning under Fee for Intervention powers, after reports from manufacturers of increasingly hostile inspections. Inspectors were guided by professional judgment and not profit, the HSE stressed.

The assurance came after one site manager complained of "very strange" and "pedantic" behaviour from the HSE since the launch of FFI, which allows the regulator to charge firms £124 an hour where they uncover material breaches. Gordon MacDonald, HSE programme director for FFI, said "When we proposed the scheme, we were being criticised for creating a blank cheque book. But that's not the case...That idea that we're going hell for leather doesn't seem to be borne out by the stats." MacDonald cited HSE data that showed 25%-30% of HSE inspections had found material breacher since the FFI launched in October. The figure was below HSE estimates, he added.

However, frontline accounts accused HSE officials of switching to an "enforcement first" approach. One site manager who wished to remain anonymous, said: "I am becoming increasingly concerned at the HSE's stance, which has resulted in two fairly challenging and pedantic visits over the last nine months." The manufacture explained how he challenged an HSE inspector to explain what was behind the more aggressive approach. "His reply, although non committal, leads me to believe that HSE inspectors are being measured on a set of performance indicators, of which the number of improvement notices issued could be one."

MacDonald refuted the suggestion. "There are no such targets at an organisation level or individual level'" he said. FFI was a legitimate means for HSE to recover regulatory costs where businesses were found to be in clear breach of the law, MacDonald stressed. "If you comply with the law, you don't face any costs," he added.
FFI was introduced following HSE budget cuts of 35% announced in the 2010 comprehensive spending review.

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