Enforcement visits to be charged?
The concept of allowing enforcement officers to charge for inspections where there is “a material breach of standards” is still being discussed in government circles (first reported in March 2011 newsletter in respect of HSE). It seems sensible that operations taking up more enforcement officer time should pay for the privilege while good businesses simply to have to pay their rates; albeit the worry must be the subsequent growth of another bureaucratic charging system.
One of the problems with the “scores on doors” system for food premises is that a business with a reasonable rating will have to wait 18 months for a revisit; even if they sorted out their problems within a few days (see comment in December 2010 newsletter). Westminster City Council will now carry out a revisit upon request for a fee of £240; hopefully, this will encourage a food business to improve immediately rather than wait until just before their next routine inspection.
Of course, this could be the thin end of the wedge. Councils do not have a statutory duty to operate the “scores on doors” scheme so, once the public are used to seeing 4 or 5 stars on their favourite restaurants, it would be feasible for councils to charge any business that wants to be rated.
Recent cases
A delivery driver that forgot to deliver two boxes of vegetarian burgers dumped them on the roadside and forged a delivery signature. Unfortunately for him, the batch number identified the shipment and his employers GPS tracking showed his lorry stopping at the tipping location! He was fined £100 plus £150 costs, £15 victim surcharge and £765 for the clean-up operation.
£10,500 fine and £2,032 costs for the pub that pleaded guilty to 6 food hygiene offences. Dirty equipment, inadequate cleaning and disinfection and inadequate measures to prevent contamination by pests featured in the charges. The company has now merged with another pub company and have spent £40,000 on refurbishments.
Environmental Health News, May 2011
A Council has been fined £50,000 and £27,670 costs after a group of adults with learning difficulties were given dishwasher fluid instead of orange juice. One man died and five others suffered horrific internal injuries. Other than finding the sodium hydroxide was in a bottle similar to an orange juice bottle and was not kept locked away HSE did not identify the person responsible for making up the toxic drink.
A suspended jail sentence, 200 hours community service and £10,000 costs for the property developer that started stripping out a building without undertaking an asbestos survey. Materials being removed included asbestos insulation from steel beams. The building remains sealed off as the developer cannot afford to have it decontaminated.
Four months prison sentence for the builder of a granny flat that carried out gas work for which he was unqualified. As well as leaving gas pipes inadequately secured he also managed to put in an electrical system without earthing.
£120,000 fine for the leisure resort in Scotland (where costs are not added) for failure to assess and control Legionella risks in their water supplies. After one guest died of Legionnaires Disease and another suffered from Pontiac Fever ( a lesser disease caused by the same bacteria) investigating officers found Legionella in two shower heads and a hot tub.
Safety & Health Practitioner, May 2011
Rock’s Frolics – the sequel
After avoiding being run over by the Princess Royal (see last month’s newsletter) I returned to our exhibition stand. We knew that HRH was not scheduled to stop at our stand so I decided to climb onto a high window sill where I would be in a position to take her photo as she walked past. Of course, she was so impressed by our stand that she stopped and congratulated my colleagues while I was trapped on the window sill looking at the back of the royal head!
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