Latest News in Health, Safety & the Environment

  HSE proposes to introduce a fee for intervention cost  recovery scheme with effect from 1 October 2012, subject to Parliamentary approval of  the proposed Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012. These Regulations will put a duty on HSE to  recover its costs for carrying out its regulatory functions from those found to  be in material breach of health and safety law. A...

 A Norfolk company has accused the HSE of nearly putting it out of business after the regulator imposed a ban on the movement and delivery of its chemical products, in the belief that the firm had breached safety laws.AgChemAccess, an international agrochemicals supplier with a workforce of about 65 people, intends to sue the HSE for around £2m in lost business.The HSE took enforcement action...

 From April next year, low-risk businesses such as shops and offices will no longer be subject to proactive health and safety inspections unless a genuine employee complaint or notification of an actual incident is made to the HSE.Exempting low-risk businesses from proactive inspections has been part of Government policy since March 2011, when former safety minister Chris Grayling launched the...

 The UK government has published its timetable for reforming environmental legislation following the recommendations of the red tape challenge. Defra has outlined its plans to remove, condense and simplify environmental regulation over the next four years, pledging to prioritise changes that  will make “meaningful improvements for business” and reduce the “administrative...

 In March, DEFRAannounced that the Government will bring forward legislation to set new targets for packaging recycling and recovery from 2013 – 2017. The headline is an annual increase in the overall recovery rate of 1% per year taking us from 74% to 79% which does not alarm us. The painful detail is:•    An annual increase of 5% for plastic, taking plastic from 32%...

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has opened a consultation on proposals to simplify and clarify how businesses comply with the requirements under the Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (as amended) (RIDDOR ’95). The review is part of HSE’s work to make it easier for businesses and other users to understand what they need to do to comply with...