Good News on HSE Charging?
HSE have backtracked a little on their proposal to charge companies for any inspections which identify material breaches of legislation. Instead of £133 per hour they have reduced the charge to £124 per hour and have said they will “in due course” explain how that amount was calculated. Perhaps they will also explain why it takes longer to work out the explanation than to do the calculations and why it is so much more than their usual fees of £66 – £80 per hour?
Perhaps of more value is their acceptance of an independent adjudicator from a business background on their disputes panel and confirmation that there is still no intention to include local authority inspectors in the charging scheme. We are still waiting for clarification of what constitutes the “material breach” which will trigger the charges although they are expected to come into operation from 6th April.
New RIDDOR Rule
From 6th April 2012 injuries preventing an employee from doing their normal work for more than 7 days must be reported through the Incident Contact Centre within 15 days (instead of the existing 3 days incapacity being reported within 10 days).
A record must be kept (but not reported) of any accident causing 3 days incapacity; however, this will only apply to the self-employed as all employers are required by Social Security legislation to keep a record of any accidents causing any injury and this “accident book” record is considered a suitable record for RIDDOR.
Reporting of deaths, major injuries, diseases or dangerous occurrences are unchanged.
RIDDOR = Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995
Lofstedt Update
The government have accepted the recommendations and are starting to take action (e.g. RIDDOR change detailed above) although, it is understood, the greater involvement of HSE in local authority enforcement will not go as far as giving HSE control.
A considerable reduction/rationalisation will see the consolidation of no less than 76 pieces of Health & Safety legislation by 2015. However, the changes relate to GMO’s (4), Biocides (5), Petroleum (6), Explosives (21) and Mining (40) and do not include any of the core regulations (Management, Manual Handling, Electricity, Working at Height, Work Equipment etc) which apply to most business operations.
Olympic Deaths
Official death toll for constructing olympic sites are Sydney in 2000 = 1, Athens in 2004 = 13, Beijing in 2008 = 6 (Chinese government originally claimed no deaths but then admitted to 6 after newspapers claimed at least 10 had died in “birds nest” stadium alone). London 2012 is 0 deaths by accident at present.
Useless information – nine workers died in 1910/11 during the construction of RMS Olympic (older sister ship of the Titanic). One of those that died was the father of one of the 8 workers killed building the ill-fated Titanic.
Recent Cases
£20,000 fine and £27,550 costs for the Council that failed to carry out annual gas safety checks. A suspect gas leak at a community centre necessitating Fire Service attendance was due to a flue section falling apart allowing carbon monoxide, from the inadequately serviced boiler, to escape.
An apprentice suffered a fractured skull and broken nose when the air suspension on the bus he was repairing failed as he was working underneath. The bus company were fined £15,000 plus £8.473 costs for not supporting the bus in accordance with industry standards.
A building company has been fined £3,500 with £900 costs and their sub-contractor £1,000 with £250 costs after a worker fell from a work platform. Unfortunately, the work platform was simply a pallet on the prongs of a Fork Lift Truck and the worker lost his balance as the FLT was moved with him at high level. He fell 4.5 metres, suffering a broken right ankle and a shattered left heel, and needed 15 days in hospital.
Safety & Health Practitioner, January 2012
£5,000 fine for the hotel where a 17 year old employee was left with severe scarring of 3 fingers after an accident with a rotary iron. There was no risk assessment or young person’s risk assessment and a safety switch had been disconnected.
Environmental Health News, February 2012
Corporate Manslaughter - Jan 2011 News Update
12 months ago I commented on the first Corporate Manslaughter case (in my opinion a complete misuse of the legislation as an individual manslaughter prosecution would have been more appropriate). Several other cases were being considered at that time but only one further prosecution has even started; another small company is being charged with corporate manslaughter with 3 directors also being individually charged with manslaughter (when are we going to see this legislation used, as intended, against large corporations where it is not possible to identify individual culpability?).