This Government is supposed to be promoting business during these tough times to stimulate much needed growth.
How on earth does that tally with clobbering construction companies with bills if an HSE inspector says something on site needs changing?
If the principle is flawed, then the figure is an absolute joke.
The HSE claim £124 an hour is required to “recover their costs”.
Now I don’t know what the average safety inspector earns.
But I doubt it’s anywhere near £992 for an eight-hour shift – which works out at £257,920 a year.
The authorities will no-doubt hide behind the usual guff about administration costs but why should contractors subsidise a tax-funded body?
The HSE rightly state that when no safety problems are found then no costs will be incurred.
But the real fear is that once someone in Whitehall realises the amount that can be raised then paid-for improvement notices will be sprinkled around like confetti.
On most major construction sites their is always something which needs improving – at a price from April.
Parking regulations and speed limits originally started as a service to the public but have mutated into a mass revenue-generating exercise.
That must not be allowed to happen with HSE charges and the safest way to avoid that is to dump this misdirected initiative as soon as possible.