Informa Markets

Author Bio ▼

Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) is first for independent health and safety news.
November 4, 2013

Businesses charged more than five million under FFI

 

InspectionThe HSE has fined UK firms more than £5.5 million for health and safety failings under its Fee for Intervention (FFI) scheme, health and safety company ELAS has discovered.
 
Following a Freedom of Information request made by ELAS, it has been revealed that businesses were fined a total of £5,532,565 for health and safety failings since October 2012.  
 
Under the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, companies that break health and safety laws are liable for fines to cover HSE-related costs, which include call-outs, inspections, investigations and taking enforcement action.
 
According to the findings, the breaches ranged from slips, trips and falls to not providing enough toilets or washing facilities. The sectors that received the most fines were manufacturing (38 per cent) and construction (36 per cent), while at the bottom of the list were water and waste management (3 per cent) and agriculture (2 per cent).
 
Commenting on the findings, Wayne Dunning, ELAS’s health and safety consultant, said: “This figure is surprising. We’re led to believe that we live in a world where health and safety is seemingly enforced to such a high degree that it’s sometimes ridiculed as a result. This clearly isn’t the case for all companies judging by this result.”
 
“It shows that the FFI scheme is a force to be reckoned with and that companies are clearly bearing the brunt of having poor, or even non-existent, health and safety measures in place.”
 
Dunning went on to add that firms could take simple measures to boost their health and safety policy and avoid getting fined, including having a comprehensive plan in place for dealing with HSE inspections, and ensuring that staff members are aware of the parts they have to play. 
 
In the November issue of SHP, Sally Roff and Jo Brook looked at the year since FFI was introduced and offered advice on how to avoid charges for a material breach in health and safety law. The article is available to read in full on the SHP website.
 
The original article headline indicated that FFI was a fine. This has been amended.

Related Topics

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

15 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Burysafetybloke
Burysafetybloke
11 years ago

FFI is a wonderful revenue-raising wheeze. Look out shortly for Police FFI following burglaries (you should have barred your doors sir), F&RS FFI for untangling vehicle pileups (you should have braked earlier sir) and why not FFI by DWP for arranging benefits payments (you should have avoided getting disabled sir).

Donna
Donna
11 years ago

As a HSE professional that has been on the recieving end of the new FFI i can absoloutley agree it is a cashcow exercise, the HSE Inspector in question opennely ammitted to me that they now have targets to meet and prior to the FFI the accident in question would not even have been investigated and whats more has been dragging on over a year and still hasn’t been resolved…. i rest my case

emma
emma
11 years ago

This is a great update, however it misses out the money given back to companies when they appeal!!!

I would be interested in knowing the amount…

freddie
freddie
11 years ago

The FFI does not really tell the full story. As a H&S professional I have had the opportunity to engage with the HSE on a number of occasions and I do not care who you are from layman to professional can walk into any facility in the UK and find a material breach. All the FFI is propping up the salaries for the HSE. We have complied with the minor breaches they found, this is not followed up for closure by the HSE, proving it is a cashcow exercise

Freddie
Freddie
11 years ago

I will let you into a little secret!!! The HSE are targeting certain industries, not “floating around industrial areas knocking on doors” They are given a list of high to medium risk business sections. How do I know this? I asked the question of one HSE inspector, those who do get a visit will be due to a reported accident, disgruntled employee or high/medium risk business sector. Ask the question when an inspector visits “what prompted the visit”.

Kerr-ching!!! you have been warned.

Harry Little
Harry Little
11 years ago

Its plain to see from the comments here that no matter what the government do, business wont be happy until they are aloud to injure and kill people at work and not have to pay anything to anyone…

joe brannigan
joe brannigan
11 years ago

Can we please have an authoritative source for this story? The numbers are much higher than any I have seen. I checked the original press release and it is somewhat short on detail, simply saying it was a FOI request but not replicating either the question asked or the exact answer given. Is FFI being conflated with court fines? FFI was a very stupid development but an FFI charge and a fine imposed by the courts following conviction are very different things things.

Malcolm Ridings
Malcolm Ridings
11 years ago

On a more sinister point – is there an existing target for the HSE to reach from October 2012 to 2013 and if so what is the figure? If this figure is not reached will the HSE have to double there efforts to catch up this year. If they still fail to reach their target is privatisation on the horizon for the HSE. Now there is a thought maybe a company like G4S policing the industry – I am sure any private company will meet any government set targets

Mick
Mick
11 years ago

FFI is a money making excercise; it may well be well intentioned, but it is all too easy for HSE inspectors to see it as a means of safeguarding ther roles. The abibility to generate funding for your own employer? Its obvious where it will end. I would wager there are tables on who generates the most money as well. It is also a well known fact that the big stick, negative consequence, rarely – if ever, produces sustainable change. Any power above cash generation is therefore extremely limited.

Mike Shaw
Mike Shaw
11 years ago

Businesses already managing health and safety effectively have little to fear from FFI given the average fees imposed, and its fair to say that material breaches of some sort exist in all businesses.

Thus, its the serious problems that will still prove the most expensive. If health and safety isn’t given the full respect it’s due, then the serious moral, legal and financial implications of injuring or killing someone are an infinitely more pressing concern than this HSE initiative.

Neil
Neil
11 years ago

From recent experience the first thing an inspector did when he sat down is give us a FFI leaflet and then mentioned it again at every possible opportunity. He then did his utmost to find a material breach to justify it. The subject in question had never been looked at by the HSE in the last 12 years!

Phil
Phil
11 years ago

Depending on how you look at it, it is fortunate that Local Authority enforced premises are ‘exempt’ from FFI. If FFI was allowed in the LA enforced sector, the overall figures for FFI would be much much higher. I reckon as a single authority we could have raised between £10-20k in the last 6 months alone. Multiply that by the over 400 authorities in the UK and you are talking £8-15 million a year. Wonder how long it will be before a business facing a large FFI bill claims they are LA enforced

Rob Slater
Rob Slater
11 years ago

Are we really supposed to be surprised by this figure? It was blatantly obvious from word go that this was going to be a money making enterprise.

As has been said anyone can walk onto any site at any time and find fault. I feel sure that even the much applauded Olympic stadium would have fallen foul of this.

All I say to my clients is we can justify what we are doing by ‘Risk Assessment’, but if the inspector doesn’t agree with my RA he assumes the role of jury and judge – ergo guilty ££££.

Scott
Scott
11 years ago

It isn’t a fine it’s a fee. When HSE issues a Notice of Contravention (NoC) it is seeking compensation for the work that the Inspectors do.

In principle I think most of us would agree with the concept of paying for the work and advice given as it will without doubt be cheaper than having an accident.

What I think is morally wrong is that some Inspectors are being instructed to issue more NoC’s, thereby increasing revenue. Is the HSE now about money or is it about protecting people?

Tim
Tim
11 years ago

Let me ask you a question regarding FFI

As an inspector you return from a site visit and are met by your principal inspector and asked “did you identify a material breach”? If the answer is no will you not be quizzed as to why you were unable to identify at least one breach.

If your next visits also fail to generate any income do you really think your principal is going to score you highly on your next appraisals