Fee for Intervention: the inspection is free, the letter is not

The inspection is free. The letter afterwards is not.

Fee for Intervention is the part of HSE enforcement almost nobody budgets for.

If an inspector visits and identifies what they judge to be a material breach, HSE recovers its costs from you. Not a fine. An invoice.

A material breach is not a prosecution or a prohibition notice. It is the inspector's written opinion that health and safety law is being contravened. That threshold sits lower than most duty holders assume.

What is recovered is the inspector's time. Three things worth knowing:

- The clock does not stop when the inspector leaves site. Investigation, report writing and follow-up are all recoverable.

- It applies to HSE inspections. Local authority inspectors do not operate cost recovery this way, and which regulator covers your site depends on the work, not the postcode.

- There is a dispute process, and the panel is independent. Very few duty holders use it.

The commercial exposure is rarely the invoice. It is what the invoice records.

A written regulatory opinion that your arrangements were not adequate now sits on file — and it is still there the next time anything goes wrong on any of your projects.

The organisations that never see one are not lucky. They are the ones who can show what they did before the inspector arrived.

When did you last review what an inspector would find on your site this morning?

This post is general information, not legal advice.

This is part of our CDM 2015 series for Principal Contractors. Our free clients guide is available from the resources page.