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July 11, 2012

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HSE chair addresses H&S community in Twitter Q&A

Health and Safety Executive chair Judith Hackitt stepped up to the plate earlier today (11 July) by spending an hour online under interrogation from health and safety stakeholders via Twitter.

Restricted by the 140-characters limit that the social-media site imposes, Ms Hackitt’s posts were inevitably shy of detail, but this allowed to her answer a number of questions over the course of the session, on topics ranging from the Government’s approach to health and safety; proactive inspections; the consultants’ register OSHCR; and the Fee For Intervention programme.

Several Tweeters were interested to find out what Ms Hackitt’s thoughts were regarding comments made by Prime Minister David Cameron and Employment minister Chris Grayling. Asked by legal consultancy Cedrec whether she is worried that Mr Cameron described workplace health and safety as a monster, which is strangling businesses with red tape and regulation, the HSE chair replied: “No, it worries me that his comments were misinterpreted. His so-called monster was made of paperwork and bureaucracy.”

Responding to a question by Chris Warburton, asking for her views on Mr Grayling’s recent claims that health and safety regulations can cost jobs, she replied in a similar vein: “Some companies say that health and safety costs jobs. It doesn’t need to be the case if they do it properly.”

Her comments on the controversial Fee For Intervention programme, which is due to come into operation in October, highlighted her desire for the scheme not to be seen as a revenue-generating exercise. Asked by one Tweeter whether she would rather companies spend money on improvements to health and safety rather than reimbursing the HSE, she said: “That’s the whole point. We are providing an incentive for people to do what they should have already.”

She also underlined that – as the HSE has on several previous occasions – that there would be no fee-collection targets for FFI.

Another significant bone of contention – the decision to stop carrying out proactive inspections in certain low-risk sectors – was also picked up by Ms Hackitt, who emphasised: “There is no ban on proactive inspections. We are doing less but targeting better.”

This, in turn, led a question-poster to respond: “Are they not as good as banned in docks because they are seen as low risk since the Löfstedt report. Yet 5 died in 4 months in 2011?”

IOSH expressed concerns that the implementation of Löfstedt’s recommendations is being rushed and could lead to confusion and a lowering of standards. While Ms Hackitt admitted that the timetable is challenging, she did not accept that it is being rushed, adding: “Consultation will be vital to get quality outputs.”

She also defended the HSE’s promotion of the consultants’ register, OSHCR, but stressed that the regulator also wants low-risk SMEs to consider whether they need consultants at all.

The full Q&A session can be viewed on Twitter by searching for #askHSE

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