New date for health and safety cost recovery scheme

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revised the start date of its fees recovery scheme that will recover costs from those who break health and safety laws. Stand Out reported last month that the HSE planned to charge companies £124 an hour for any advice it gives following the discovery of a material breach during a site inspection. The clock will start ticking the moment an improvement or enforcement notice is served or an email or letter sent.

The HSE had planned to enforce fees recovery from April 6. This is now likely to be October 2012.

HSE is taking advantage of the extra time to work further with businesses to improve their understanding of the scheme and how it will affect them.