26.07.2011

HSE could charge offenders £133 an hour

The Health and Safety Executive in the UK could charge those that break health and safety laws £133 an hour to cover the costs of investigating offences.

The HSE has opened a three month consultation on plans to recover costs involved in enforcing improvement and prohibition notices, having already agreed the underlying principal. The new scheme could be introduced as early as April 2012 with the deadline for consultation responses of 14th October.
Costs of any specialist support needed by HSE would also be passed on and all invoices will need to be paid within 30 days.

"The Government has agreed that it is right that those who break the law should pay their fair share of the costs to put things right - and not the public purse,” said HSE's programme director Gordon MacDonald. "These proposals provide a further incentive for people to operate within the law, levelling the playing field between those who comply and those who don't. Compliant firms will not pay a penny in intervention fees. HSE already recovers its costs in a range of industries and we have considerable experience of making these schemes work. We want to hear from as many people as possible about how we plan to operate the scheme, to help make its introduction as successful as possible."