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Background
to the Investigation Criteria
In
2000, a Parliamentary Select Committee criticised
the failure of the HSE to have any established criteria
for determining whether
As
a result, in April 2001, the HSE published guidance
setting out the criteria that it would use
The
HSE were however concerned that the introduction of
the new criteria resulted in :
"the
time spent on reactive work in Field Operations
Directorate increasing from 35% in 1997/8 to 50%
in 2002/3. ... HSE took the view that this balance
was wrong as HSC/E's primary aim is prevention and
that HSE should be aiming to reduce the figure for
reactive work to 40%" [1]
As
a result the HSE piloted a new set of criteria in the
North West with the purpose of reducing the "numbers
of incidents selected for investigation. by about 40%."
According
to the HSC, the application of the new criteria in
the North West resulted in a 70% drop in the numbers
of incidents selected". A second set of revised criteria
- which allowed some discretion to select incidents
arising from the priority topic hazards - was then
tested from December 2003 to June 2004.
In July 2004, another Parliamentary Select Committee
on Work and Pensions, considering the work of the
HSE, looked at the issue of levels of investigation.
It stated:
"The
Committee is concerned both at the low level of
incidents investigated and at the low level of proactive
inspections and recommends that resources for both
are increased"
To
read what the committee said on incident selection,
click here.
In
December 2004, on receiving a paper from the HSE,
it was decided that radical changes to the incident
criteria were not required. However it agreed that
the following changes should be made to the 2001 incident
criteria:
| 1 |
replace
part C of the criteria with a clause that enables
the Executive to determine additional criteria
on the basis of the agreed strategic programme
plans |
| 2 |
update
the reference to the guidance on work-related
road traffic incident |
| 3 |
for
clarity separate out the elements under public
concern; |
| 4 |
for
clarity under "Breach of health and safety
law' incorporate the note into the criteria and
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| 5 |
under
the disqualification criteria include a generally
worded reference to the guidance current at the
time on HSWA section 3 |
Footnote:
[1]
Para 7 of 'Revision of the HSC RIDDOR Incident Selection
Criteria" A paper to the HSC, 7 Dec 2004. To
download it, click
here
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