The Health and Safety Executive’s new cost recovery scheme, ‘Fee for Intervention’ (FFI), will come into force on Monday 1st October. Under the new scheme, farmers who are found to be in ‘material violation’ of health and safety regulations during an inspection will foot the bill for the inspection and any subsequent costs.

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Under the new FFI scheme, farmers who violate of health and safety regulations could be made to repay costs covering the inspection, investigation and enforcement action taken on their premises. The Fee for Intervention hourly rate for 2012/13 is £124; this will be paid by the duty holder (person or company responsible for health and safety).

If no breach of legislation is found, the inspection will be free of charge. Inspections will usually occur following a complaint or an incident, if HSE officials believe an accident report merits further investigation.

‘Material breaches,’ the subject of much contention during the scheme’s planning phase, take wider context into account during the inspection. HSE officials will consider a range of factors in deciding whether a breach constitutes a ‘material breach.’

These include, the severity of the risk identified, a duty holder’s overall compliance with relevant legislation, whether breaches have been identified on the premises in the past and any previous enforcement action taken, whether the offence appears deliberate or occurred for financial gain, actual harm caused and the level of confidence in the duty holder.

If any further action is required on the part of the inspector (writing to a duty holder, serving a notice or pushing for prosecution) a material breach has been identified. Certain accidents must be reported by law; if the HSE is contacted due to an injury that has not been reported, and which should have been, this may well be a material breach

The FFI scheme, which comes into action for the first time on Monday, will be subject to a review in 12 months’ time. Commenting on Monday, Geoffrey Podger, HSE's Chief Executive, said, "The most basic safety mistakes in the workplace can devastate lives and result in real costs to industry. It is right that those who fail to meet their legal obligations should pay HSE's costs rather than the public purse having to do so.”

Guidance from HSE is available here.

The NFU, which initially showed scepticism and expressed “concern” over the identification of material breaches under the new scheme and its “implications for… members” who are for the most part farming employers, has urged farmers to cooperate with HSE inspectors, as this will reflect favourably on the duty holder, and minimise the costs if a breach is identified.

Farming remains the most dangerous industry in the UK. Figures released in July by HSE reveal the number of work related fatalities rose by 10 per cent in the farming sector in 2011/ 2012. Although more deaths were reported in the construction industry, with 49 fatal accidents compared to farming’s 33, per 100,000 workers, the number of deaths in agriculture was three times as high

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