Please be aware that the HSE’s cost recovery rate for Fee for Intervention has increased from £129 per hour to £154 per hour. This means that businesses that are found to be in material breach of health and safety law will be charged at this new rate. 
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The fee will include the costs covering the time of the entire original visit. The total amount recovered will be based on the amount of time it takes HSE to identify the breach and help you put things right (including associated office work), multiplied by the hourly rate.

Your fee may include the inspector’s time:
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• At your business or workplace
• Preparing reports
• Getting specialist advice
• Talking to you after the visit
• Talking to your workers

​A construction company has been fined for safety breaches after a worker fell nearly 3 metres.
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In accident happened on the upper floor of a building in West Yorkshire which was under refurbishment. An operative was removing a genie lift from the forks of a fork lift truck so steel beams could be lifted into place, when he stepped backwards and fell through the stairwell opening. The IP spent the following six days in hospital having sustained a fractured spine, a fractured skull and a collapsed lung. He is still attending physiotherapy and has been unable to return to work.

​The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) has confirmed it will be phasing out the grandfather rights for certain CSCS cards from 2020, they will then abolish it completely from 2024.
 
The scheme allowed workers to obtain CSCS cards based on their industry knowledge and an employers’ recommendation, the cards do not require the achievement of a recognised qualification.
 

​In Brighton last month, a toddler was seriously injured when a large piece of timber fell from scaffolding.  The girl, who was being pushed in a pushchair, was rushed to Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where she underwent surgery for a fractured skull.

​A Manchester-based businessman has been given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after failing to survey a property for asbestos before starting major refurbishment work.
The HSE carried out a routine inspection which found the property owner didn’t check whether asbestos was present before carrying out the required work. 

Wood dust becomes a potential health issue when wood particles produced during activities such as sanding and cutting become airborne and therefore is covered under COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Heath Regulations 2002).  If inhaled, these particles can cause serious health problems including asthma, allergic respiratory symptoms, mucosal and non-allergic respiratory symptoms and even cancer.

Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) for both hardwood and softwood dusts is currently 5mg/m3.  This is based upon the amount of dust in the air averaged over an 8-hour shift.  In all instances, exposure to these harmful dusts must be reduced to as low as reasonably practicable.

The HSE are currently in the process of lowering this to 3mg/m3 in 2020 and then to 2mg/m3 by 2023

The CSCS card was introduced for personnel who visited site on a regular basis but did not carry out a construction related role.
After consultation between CSCS and the industry, a new plan has been devised with the prospect of withdrawing the card completely.  This decision is also supported by the Construction Leadership Council.

A construction worker is recovering in hospital after he was hit by falling materials on a housing site in Scotland. The operative is recovering and is in a stable condition. It was confirmed that his injuries were caused by falling materials within the building. This accident occurred two weeks after a woman died following being struck by a pallet of falling bricks in London. 

​Two scaffold inspectors have been prosecuted after a worker fell through a gap on a structure they had signed off as safe. The Court heard how the worker was working on a re-roofing project. As he stepped down from a roof, onto a fixed scaffold, he fell through a gap between the working platform and the building.

​A Bakery has been fined £1 million following the death of a self-employed electrical contractor working in their premises. The electrician was wiring a motor situated above a machine while standing on a stepladder.