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HEALTH & SAFETY

LEGISLATION UPDATES FOR 2012

Many of you will no doubt be aware, April and October are the key dates in the Health and Safety calendar, when any legislation changes come into force. This April, there are two amendments to key pieces of legislation that you should be aware of:

1. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

From 6th April 2012, RIDDOR's 'over three day' injury reporting requirement will change. The trigger point to notify the accident will increase from 'over three days' - to 'over seven days' incapacitation (remember not to include the day on which the accident occured).

Incapacition means that the worker is absent or unable to carry out their duties that they would reasonably be expected to do as part of their normal work.

The deadline by which the over seven day injury must be reported will also change from 10 days to 15 days, from the day of the accident. Be aware though, that you'll still need to keep a record of all over three day injuries - if you are required to keep an accident book, then this will be sufficient.

2. Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012.

From 6th April 2012, the HSE's 'fee for intervention' scheme comes into force, allowing Inspectors to charge where employers are found to be in material breach of Health and Safety law, and as a result of this, a requirement to rectify the breach is formally made in writing.

To clarify this, where Improvement and Prohibition Notices, letters or e-mails are issued by the Inspector, then the HSE will recover all of the costs for this intervention. It's worth noting that such costs will be recovered from the start of the intervention and will also include any follow up site visits, phone calls, etc. An hourly rate has been approved for this cost recovery of £124 - and indications during last years consultation period suggest a cost of around £750 will be incurred where intervention results in a letter being issued, requiring the company to rectifiy the breach. But beware; where Improvement or Prohibition Notices are served, fees will very quickly escalate to the £1500 mark.

Keep your health and safety management in good order....and make sure you don't find yourselves paying these intervention fees.

For further information regarding these two areas, please contact ATG.