question about complaint recieved for "unsafe" building work

Best not to complicate things by asking what law you have broken, you have not broken any so just knock it all on the head by telling them that you are a domestic home owner doing DIY and that'll be that.

[edit]Agreed likely an old moaner but if he/she has contacts with HSE then he/she needs to talk to them in a little more detail and if he/she is ex-HSE then they must be very old as exemptions for home owners doing DIY was pretty much enshrined in legislation in 1974, but dates back from case law well, well before that...[edit]
 
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Kenai said:
Which the OP has clarified didn't occur, so unless we are to assume he's lying about it, that's a complete non-issue.
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I must have read it differently. I got the impression the OP laughed that part off as "not a risk", even though it existed. Apologies if it is erected correctly.

Also, I'd like to point out you don't "need contacts" in the HSE to get them to send a letter or arrange to send an inspector out. Simply calling them about a potentially serious issue will trigger this. It could range from moaning about lack of washing facilities in a factory to seeing someone tear down an asbestos building in a pair of shorts and t-shirt.

As mentioned before, they now charge to visit businesses so its likely you'd get a letter at first unless there is a death out of hours, in which case you'd get a knock on the door. I know at least 3 inspectors, and whilst I've called them to discuss a few issues it wouldn't make a difference if I asked them to take a look at something or if joe public called them.. It's the same reaction.
 
EVH said:
I must have read it differently. I got the impression the OP laughed that part off as "not a risk", even though it existed. Apologies if it is erected correctly.
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"I know for a fact we have never set up the scaffold tower with the safety bar below knee levels "

Seems quite clear cut to me :p
 
When is he working on it. If its regularly during the day its not a bad assumption on the part of the HSE when receiving a call to assume its a contractor.

I am not certain why you wouldn't wear PPE personally. There is some really good stuff now, tinted glasses etc. Its a few quid, protecting your eyes and fingers etc seems worth every penny many many times over to me. Hard hat as people have mentioned is a little excessive, but you can get bump caps which wouldnt be a bad plan when doing stuff where its easy to have a risk of banging your head, again they don't look that bad now a days.

You can take all PPE off when not actually required in a few seconds.
 
EVH said:
they now charge to visit businesses so its likely you'd get a letter at first unless there is a death out of hours, in which case you'd get a knock on the door.
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They charge for intervention. If there is nothing wrong at all and they do not have to "intervene" then there will be no charge. It is unlikely they will send a letter first. They no longer do spot checks per se, unless it is part of a campaign and they mostly only visit on complaints from another party (usually a neighbour). You can probably see where this is going...

In reality this means they are less likely to offer advice and more likely to slap an improvement or prohibition notice on activities that present even minor deviations from the letter of the law. But then they have had their budget slit by 33% in this government...

Intervention by the way is at a rate of £127/hour or thereabouts with a minimum of 6 hours charge, which is good work if you can get it...
 
Lt_Red said:
They charge for intervention. If there is nothing wrong at all and they do not have to "intervene" then there will be no charge. It is unlikely they will send a letter first. They no longer do spot checks per se, unless it is part of a campaign and they mostly only visit on complaints from another party (usually a neighbour). You can probably see where this is going...

In reality this means they are less likely to offer advice and more likely to slap an improvement or prohibition notice on activities that present even minor deviations from the letter of the law. But then they have had their budget slit by 33% in this government...

Intervention by the way is at a rate of £127/hour or thereabouts with a minimum of 6 hours charge, which is good work if you can get it...
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I know how it works :o
 
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