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Construction firms face being hit with charges of up to 拢200 an hour for Health and Safety Executive inspectors鈥� time if they breach safety rules under plans being floated by the quango.

锘縄nspectors expect the rate could be 拢150-200 an hour

Mike Macdonald, Prospect

The 鈥渇ee for fault鈥� proposals will be put to the industry for consultation in the summer and construction inspectors expect the rate for construction firms to be 拢150-200 an hour.

Mike MacDonald, an HSE inspectors鈥� representative at union Prospect, said: 鈥淭he HSE is planning to transfer a big slug of the costs to business.

鈥淚nspectors expect the rate for construction firms could be 拢150-200 an hour.鈥�

A HSE spokesperson said it was too early to discuss rates but said: 鈥淒etermining factors will include what the market rate for construction experts is and how we can recover our full costs.鈥�

Firms in the chemical and offshore industries are already charged up to 拢256 an hour for inspectors鈥� time when safety failures are found.
At present, construction firms only pay the costs of HSE inspectors鈥� time in the event of a successful HSE prosecution but under the new proposals construction firms will be charged whenever an enforcement notice is issued.

The HSE expects the charging system to be implemented in April 2012 after the government passes enabling legislation.

This comes after Chris Grayling, the employment minister, announced that the HSE will need to recover more of its costs from 鈥渞ogue employers鈥�.

The charging proposals have sparked fears HSE inspectors could have a conflict of interest when inspecting for safety failures because the HSE鈥檚 move to increase revenues comes as it tries to meet budget cuts of 35%. Macdonald said: 鈥淏usinesses will be wary of inspectors under pressure to justify their jobs.鈥�

However, a senior HSE source denied this would be the case. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no sense that their behaviour is motivated by money, rather the opposite. They tend to give the benefit of the doubt.鈥�