The HSE now charge a fee for intervention (FFI) of £114 per hour for any situation where they do work as a result of a material breach of health and safety regulations. The idea is that those that are at fault should pay, rather than the taxpayer.
The FFI fee reimbursement scheme seems to be an insurance policy where you pay a premium and can then claim back the whole of the fee that the HSE has charged you.
Insurance is essential for many situations and, on the face of it, this might seem to be one of those.
I am not suggesting that those who are selling this scheme are dishonest, but I offer the following observations:
- Unlike an injury or similar claim which could runs to 10's or even 100's of thousands, FFI is not a great amount; whilst nobody like to pay this fee, it is not crippling.
- There is an excess of £150, so that is 80 minutes of FFI.
- Advertised limits are £10,000 for each claim and £25,000 per year. Really, if you are anticipating getting charged this much, you've got serious problems. You need to put the effort into correcting the problem, rather than accepting that it will happen.
- FFI is contestable. SSS have contested an improvement notice and FFI for one client and the HSE withdrew the notice and the fee.
Rather than sign up for an FFI fee reimbursement scheme, talk to a health and safety practitioner and make sure you are on top of your health and safety issues.
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