On the spot fines following these inspections have been increased to £20,000. Find out if your business is at risk and review our 7 free top tips on Health and Safety on our Top Tips page.
There are three reasons why you may hear from the health & safety “police”. All of them are beyond your control.
- Someone disgruntled with an axe to grind
- Incident or Accident
- Spot check
The first is very rare and relates to employees or ex-employees, competitors, neighbours or just about anyone else that isn’t a fan. Perhaps your partner if you’re a workaholic.
Number 2 speaks for itself yet it would have to be something serious. You may be responsible for reporting it to the authorities yourself because of regulations such as Riddor protocols (click here for a simple guide to RIDDOR from the health and safety executive). Or the emergency services or healthcare professionals may report to the local authorities.
Spot checks are unlikely yet I was introduced to a company last year that had been inspected on a spot check and given 7 days to attend to the inspectors concerns about asbestos. They would have been closed down if they did not. It was their bank manager that asked me to help. He had his client’s best interests at heart and asked me to find someone to handle this ASAP. The next day my contact visited the client and solved his problem.
Apart from these three reasons there is also the law, the recently increased fines, the hassle of tribunals or courts and evidence that businesses with robust health and safety plans make more profit.
See our top tips page for simple ways to help yourself today.
