Stupid Questions I’ve Been Asked…

I’ve been asked many, many times how to “persuade” the HSE not to issue notices.

Some of the questions I’ve been asked are…

“Are documents created after the inspection ok?” errrr No.

“Can we do a months work of inspection records and that will show we inspect every day?”  Well, no because that would be lying.

“Would the Inspector  accept money to not issue a notice?” NOOOOOOO!!!!!

and even “How much do inspectors want to not issue a notice?” Please.  Don’t bribe the inspectors.  They are like the police.

We could just all go off site, couldn’t we, so there’s noone to issue the notice to?” Well you could if you want a notice for not supervising your site as well!!

Then there’s the matter of fact people who like to tell me how things are.

“First aid certificates have a 6 month grace period.”  Not the ones issued by legitimate trainers!!

“Tower scaffolds don’t need inspecting at all”. Err yes they do, before use and every 7 days if they are left in situ.

and the best one

“They’ll not come here because we’re not big enough, they’ll go down the road to the big housebasher site because there will be more to find.”  Ok, you live in hope on that one!!

And here’s proof that you can’t send in any old guff, made up record or document….

A Wholesaling company has been fined £18k plus costs for falsifying inspection records on a forklift truck which had around 40 faults on it.  The company sent in the records to the HSE after a notice was issued and … you’ll never guess what… they knew the documents were forged examination records.

There really is only one way to ensure the HSE don’t issue a notice on you and you know what it is….DO IT RIGHT!!!

Claire Sheehan is a Chartered Health and Safety Manager who founded Infinite Safety Ltd in 2006.  Infinite Safety Ltd has grown by word of mouth alone to serve over 120 clients across the UK.