With the HSE’s Cost Recovery scheme just weeks away, what will it mean for demolition?
The Health and Safety Executive has just completed what it describes as a “two-week shadowing initiative” to train inspectors in readiness for the introduction of its much-discussed “cost recovery” scheme next month. Presumably, that training will have covered such important topics as “how to operate the taxi-style meter”, “how to count money”, and “how to write letters that cost £750 each”. And supposedly, an advanced version of this training will teach inspectors to say the weasel-worded term “cost recovery” with a straight face when every fibre of their being is crying out to use the more accurate term, FINE.
Of course, there is an argument that professional UK demolition contractors have nothing to fear so long as they stay the right side of the law. Very true in instances when the regulations surrounding health and safety matters is written, interpreted and enforced in crystal-clear, black and white.
But just think about how many sets of ephemeral guidance and regulation the industry is expected to adhere to; the way in which regulations are interpreted differently between different counties, cities and individual inspectors; the constantly-shifting attitude towards certain working practices and methodologies.
Take, for example, the HSE’s guidance on track-mounted crushers. We are told that it is inadvisable for an operative to be on the machine while it’s working and we have heard instances of sites being handed prohibition notices for failing to comply. But we also know of inspectors that are quite willing to turn a blind eye to this apparent transgression.
Take, as another example, the use of semi-automatic quick hitches, the use of which is now discouraged but not entirely outlawed retrospectively.
Take, as yet another example, the fact that every item of equipment on a UK demolition site should be backed by a CE certificate stating that it is fit for purpose. Again, this is supposedly a legal requirement but we hear of very few cases in which contractors are required to produce a CE certificate for inspection. At least until now.
In the same way that it is impossible to visit a dentist without them finding something that will be a money-earning “potential problem” if they worry it sufficiently with their instruments or torture, it will be all too easy for HSE inspectors to turn each random site investigation into a more thorough digging exercise that ensures a bill is raised and a fine (for that is what it is) is levied against the contractor.
The HSE’s cost recovery scheme has the potential to represent a perfect storm for UK demolition contractors. At a time when UK PLC coffers remain depleted, inspectors will be viewed by Government as a potential source of revenue; the UK legal constitution is filled to bursting point with impenetrable regulations laced with clauses, sub-clauses, loopholes and potential minefields; and with workloads still depressed in many parts of the country, there are fewer sites to visit, allowing inspectors to scrutinise and police those sites that do arise ever-more closely.
For all the Government’s talk of covering its costs, and for all the HSE’s reassurances of the scheme only impacting those that step outside the law, there is only going to be one loser in all of this. And if you’re reading this as a demolition professional, the chances are that person is you.
