Money shouldn’t come between friends

If Carlsberg did HSE inspectors, as the advertising slogan goes, then they'd probably look something like David Norton. Norton comes across as the kind of approachable official who inspires trust and respect from those he inspects. He's the kind of unassuming character who will get on with the day job regardless of whether his activities become chargeable under Fee For Intervention (FFI) powers. The trouble is, not everyone has a David Norton turning up on site. The latest round of FFI-fuelled complaints from manufacturers show growing unrest with a perceived hardening of regulatory style. The chief accusation is HSE is cynically using FFI to raise revenue – treating improvement notices as pseudo pound notes. Let's set the record straight. The chances of HSE wilfully abusing FFI in this way are about as likely as finding Elvis, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon performing together on a remote tropical island. In reality, what we're witnessing is a far more subtle and unscripted consequence of a fee-charging model. The dynamic has changed. Businesses are viewing HSE actions with scepticism, seeing every call as a thinly veiled attempt to make some extra cash. Money has driven a wedge between the regulator and the regulated – no matter how loudly HSE protests that this is a mechanism that only the guilty need fear. There is probably some substance to the view that certain inspectors are reacting to the mechanism, albeit sub consciously. We're not talking about the David Nortons of the team, more the stereotypical inspector – fussy, onerous and egotistical. It's easy to picture FFI bringing out the worst in those personalities by accentuating their officious streak. Reports of inspectors kicking off chargeable meetings with a word-for-word narrative of safety guidance only reinforce the conclusion. The shame of it is we've achieved some stunning advances in workplace safety since HSE launched in 1975. The gap between lost-time accidents has moved from days to months or years, with safety now a foundation of world-class manufacturing. We shouldn't allow such an effective partnership to disintegrate in an argument over money.