2. THE HEALTH AND SAFETY INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT REGIME

Changes and developments since last year

• in April 2013, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) began consulting on government plans to change the law to amend the scope of GLA licensing, change the size and structure of the GLA Board and on proposals for alternative sanctions that the GLA might use;

• a new study shows that there are now at least 37 designated “sectors without inspectors” including agriculture, quarries, plastics, electricity generation and supply and Britain’s biggest employer, the health service;

• a new national enforcement code explicitly outlaws proactive inspections outside “high risk areas” by local authority regulators and will exempt hundreds of thousands of businesses from “burdensome” health and safety inspections. Businesses will now only be inspected if they are operating in high risk areas or if they have a poor safety record;

• a proposed “growth duty” for regulators would require the HSE to take into account the impact of their activities on the economic prospects of firms they regulate and a revised Regulators’ Code would require “methods of enforcement that are tailored to meet the needs of the business”;

• The HSE’s “fee for intervention” (FFI) cost recovery scheme came into effect on 1 October 2012. The HSE is now required to recover its costs for carrying out its regulatory functions from employers and other dutyholders found to be “in material breach” of health and safety law. The fees are currently based on an hourly rate of £124;

• The level of fines for convictions secured by the HSE and the number of prosecutions by local authorities both fell last year; and

• The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that several companies will face corporate manslaughter charges.