First HSE Invoices Sent to Investigated Companies
The British OSHA agency's chairman announced Jan. 30 that 1,418 Fee for Intervention invoices from October and November totaled $1.15 million.
The Fee for Intervention era has begun for the Health and Safety Executive, the British agency equivalent to OSHA in the United States. Its chairman, Geoffrey Podger, announced during a Jan. 30 board meeting that the initial bills to inspected companies went out beginning Jan. 21. They covered 1,418 Fee for Intervention invoices from October and November and totaled $1.15 million.
Seventy percent of the invoices were for less than $795, he reported.
His report said the most significant prosecution during January 2013 involved UK Power Networks, which was fined and ordered to pay costs in connection with a fatal transformer explosion in May 2008 that also cut power to large portions of the town of Chelmsford, including its hospital, for several days.
Podger said HSE will launch a new health surveillance website on March 14 that will replace a printed "Health surveillance at work" document written more than 20 years ago and most recently revised 11 years ago. Employers who visit the site will have access to guidance on specific health hazards and information about the core principles of health surveillance, he said.
The board meeting included the release of a new plan for investigating Legionella risks at British workplaces. Three recent outbreaks are still under investigation, and because of them HSE recently issued a safety notice to about 5,000 operators of evaporative cooling systems.