Cost recovery scheme to make businesses pay for health and safety inspections began on 1 October to criticism from the print industry.
PrintWeek has reported on t
he introduction of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) new Fee for Intervention (FFI) scheme on 1 October to extensive criticism from the UK print industry for a proposed £124 ($200/€155) hourly rate of inspections.
Companies that are found to be in “material breach” of health and safety regulations will be required to pay the Fee for Intervention, which will be formulated on the amount of time taken for HSE inspectors to “identify a breach of legislation and to conclude any necessary regulatory action”.
The HSE states that “the many businesses that comply with their legal obligations will continue to pay nothing”.
Forum for Private Business Chief Executive Phil Orford previously noted that the scheme lacks flexibility and will create a “postcode lottery”: “We need health and safety law enforcement that effectively polices workplace safety and security, but does not punish firms unduly for breaches that are not substantiated and are genuinely made in error.”
Smaller businesses without greater resources and infrastructure are speculated to find themselves “falling foul” of the FFI.
The HSE has confirmed that it will review the FFI following the first 12 months, with a further inspection after three years.