Shifting the Burden

HSE will recover all of the costs it incurs following action taken helping businesses to comply where they are breaking health and safety law.

Those who comply with the law will not pay a penny as a result of an HSE inspection and there will be no fees in relation to purely technical breaches.

How is HSE planning to share more of its costs with those that create the risks?

HSE is introducing ‘fee for intervention’ for all costs of an inspection or investigation where a business is in material breach of the law.

Why should businesses have to pay for HSE involvement?
It is fair and reasonable that businesses that are found to have broken health and safety laws should pay the costs incurred by HSE in helping them to put matters right rather than the public purse.
‘Fee for intervention’ will also help create a level playing field for business. Employers who cut corners and put the workers and the public at risk should not enjoy a competitive advantage over those who invest in doing the right thing. ‘Fee for intervention’ may act as an incentive to employers who do not meet basic health and safety standards. Similar schemes are already in operation by other regulators in Britain, including the Environment Agency, Natural England and Ofwat (the Water Services Regulation Authority).

What is a ‘material breach’?
HSE is proposing to recover costs from interventions at which a material breach is found. A material breach is where, in the opinion of an HSE inspector, there has been a breach of health and safety law that requires HSE’s intervention in supporting the business in putting matters right.
For example, at its simplest, failure to properly display the health and safety law poster in an otherwise well- run firm would normally be dealt with by verbal advice, and costs would not be recovered. However, inadequate guarding of machinery, which could result in significant injury to employees, would result in costs being recovered.
What is the proposed hourly rate?

The proposed current estimate for ’fee for intervention’ is £133 per hour. If non-HSE specialist support is required to assist with HSE’s activity, the dutyholder would pay the costs of specialist support. Fees are exempt from VAT.
How will HSE collect the money owed for these fees?
HSE will invoice businesses and expect them to pay within 30 days. To assist them with cash flow and accounting arrangements, it is expected that invoices will be issued on a monthly basis as costs are incurred rather than collating all costs into one invoice issued when all work has been completed. If they do not pay, normal credit control action will then be taken, ie a series of reminders, a final reminder and then recovery through the courts.

When will these measures come into force?
The intention is ‘fee for intervention’ to be introduced from as early as April 2012.

Make sure you are complying - contact Occhnet on info@occhnet.co.uk or www.occhnet.co.uk for professional advice don't end up paying the price!

HSE to Charge for Inspections

HSE may charge £133 an hour for inspectors' work

The HSE expects to charge organisations £133 an hour for inspectors’ work identifying and helping remedy minor breaches.

HSE programme director Gordon Macdonald said the provisional hourly rate for so-called fee-for-fault charging will be introduced in April 2012, following a consultation exercise due to start later this month. MacDonald admitted that cost recovery was controversial, but said charging will definitely go ahead; the consultation will canvas opinions on the details of the scheme.

Help for Small Businesses

Accidents and ill health caused by work cost time and money. A good health and safety regime for your business ensures your hard earned profits stay in the bank and are not spent on accident or illness related problems, each time they happen.

Work accidents and ill health can be expensive. Stopping them happening can save you time and money. The smaller your business the bigger the impact will be if a member of your staff has a serious accident, or is off sick for an extended period of time. It could even put you out of business.

There are several important areas to consider if you want to reduce the cost of ill health or accidents caused by the working environment.

Come along to the free small business health & safety awareness seminar in Swansea 30^th June 2011. Contact info@occhnet.co.uk for deatials.

Asbestos

When am I at risk?

You are mostly at risk when:

• You are working on an unfamiliar site
• The building you are working on was built before the year 2000
• Asbestos-containing materials were not identified before the job was started
• Asbestos-containing materials were identified but this information was not passed on by the people in charge to the people doing the work
• You don’t know how to recognise and work safely with asbestos
• You know how to work safely with asbestos but you choose to put yourself at risk by not following proper precautions, perhaps to save time or because no one else is following proper procedures

Remember, as long as the asbestos is not damaged or located somewhere where it can be easily damaged it won’t be a risk to you.

• You can’t see or smell asbestos fibres in the air.
• The effects of asbestos take many years to show up - avoid breathing it in now.
• Smoking increases the risk many times.
• Asbestos is only a danger when fibres are made airborne

Occhnet

New Training Courses

Occhnet will be running the following training courses, book early they fill up quick!

Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) Awarness - 7th June 2011 (West Midlands) - £175 +VAT

COSHH Assessor Course - 22nd June 2011 (Worcestershire) - £375 + VAT

For more details and to book contact Occhnet on:

01994232977 or email info@occhnet.co.uk

Credit Cards Accepted

Occhnet is Registered on the Government's official Register of Occupational Safety and Health Consultants

All reputable employers recognise the benefits of providing healthy and safe working conditions for their staff. Sensible health and safety at work helps to maintain a productive workforce and contributes to economic prosperity and growth.
But health and safety legislation is complex and employers – particularly those in small and medium businesses – are often unclear about what they need to do to meet their legal obligations. While some larger employers have in-house health and safety advisers, and there is a lot of helpful advice and guidance freely available from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), many employers turn to health and safety consultants for professional help.
Unfortunately, the standards of consultation currently available are variable. There are no minimum standards for health and safety consultants and no way for employers to ensure that the advice they are being given is accurate and proportionate to the needs of their business.
The Government will clamp down on the rogue health and safety advisers who cost industry so much money by giving them advice which bears little relation to the actual requirements of legislation. To achieve this the Government have launched an Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) for those health and safety practitioners who are properly accredited to one of the professional bodies in the industry.

Applicants must be a member of a UK health and safety professional body and have a degree level qualification, a minimum of two years experience and engagement with a continued professional development scheme. This is usually at Chartered, Fellow or Registered Member status.

Occhnet is proud to be listed in the OSHCR register Occhnet OSHCR Details

Local Exhaust Ventilation Testing

Thousands of British workers contract occupational asthma and other occupational lung diseases each year. They develop them because they breathe in too much dust, fume or other airborne contaminants at work. Local Exhaust Ventilation Systems are commonly used to control these exposures, but they must be thoroughly tested.

OCCHNET LTD

OCCHNET is a fully independent occupational health, safety and environmental consultancy, formed to meet the need for a professional, reliable and cost effective service to industry. It provides expert advice and practical assistance on chemical and physical hazards both in, and from, the workplace, and can offer a wide range of services and training courses to clients to help them meet the requirements of UK legislation.

Local Exhaust Ventilation Testing

Regulation 9(2) of COSHH requires a thorough examination and test of all local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems, normally every 14 months.

To fully comply with Regulation 9 may require the following for each LEV system: -

a)         capture velocity measurements at each extraction point

b)        air flow measurements in each duct

c)         determination of which branches in a multi-branch system can be used at the same time

d)        static pressures at key positions

e)         fan speed and rotation

f)         the adequacy of make-up air

g)         whether the contaminant was returned to the workplace.   

                       

Performance criteria should be set for each system and the actual performance compared with those criteria.

The comprehensive set of base-line data listed above is called a Part I examination or "fingerprinting". Subsequent tests in future years (Part II examinations) ensure that the systems have not deteriorated since the previous examination.

OCCHNET LTD undertakes Part I & Part II thorough examination and testing of the LEV systems.

 

Contact Occhnet on LEV testing or any other services for cost effective and professionally qualified solutions.

Telephone: 01994 232977

Fax: 01994 232976

Email: info@occhnet.co.uk

Web: www.occhnet.co.uk