Freedom of Information request reveals extent of Fee For Intervention charging.
A little over three months into the implementation of its Fee for Intervention (FFI) scheme, provisional statistics obtained by legal firm DWF LLP from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the Freedom of Information Act show that it’s been a busy period for the safety regulator.
“Most notably, of the premises where FFI time has been recorded, 373 are within the construction sector. This figure is likely to be lower than the true number of construction sites at which the HSE spent time, as transient construction work is recorded against the head office address for the relevant duty holder. As such, there appears to have been a particular focus on this sector. It’s difficult to say why this is, but it could be due to the sector being an easy target for inspectors, or because greater clarity is needed around the legal obligations of the construction sector. Whatever the cause, operators in the construction sector should be aware,” says DWF regulatory partner, Steffan Groch.
“Anyone receiving an FFI invoice will have 21 days from receipt in which to query it, should they believe they weren’t in material breach of the law or the time the fee is charged for is incorrect. If they remain unhappy after the HSE’s response they will then have a further 21 days in which to lodge a dispute. With the resulting FFI invoices not due to be published until the end of this month, we will have to wait and see how many Notices of Contravention will be issued, and how many appeals result.”
