There will be no comeback on you. You are not the employer, your director/company is. It would be good practice to note in your risk assessment/report what you have seen and recommend to your director. You are not the 'controlling mind' of the company - just a peasant like most of us!

No you won't end up accountable your director will he can give the responsibility but retains accountability, most H&S practitioners work on the same basis. I would just make sure that you keep copies of all reports, R/A's etc.

You are not at risk of prosecution under the cirsumstances which you describe. If, despite stating clearly that you think the company are putting H&S seriously at risk, you are still getting nowhere with senior management, I would consider taking it further myself - I agree with Juan Carlos. You need to make sure that you have really told them the outcome of ignoring safety, both for their employees and for themselves as directors (fines, imprisonment, send them the link to the first corp manslaughter prosection, roles and responsibilities) If they still ignore you though, I would call the HSE.

Personally, I am not so comfortable with the statements that you are not accountable. You may not end up being held fully accountable but you will be accountable to some degree – and rightly so. You have been properly trained and appointed as the AP, and you have accepted the appointment. (Granted, you do not actually state this is the case but stick with me) It is now your duty to carry out that role as per your training. It has been a while since I read the BS but I a pretty sure your role includes ensuring proper maintenance is carried out, proper examination / inspection of equipment, defect reporting, proper planning and supervision. Further to this it talks about the AP having the authority to stop an operation if they see fit. You now appear to have two choices, carry out the role and thereby stop the lifting operations until you are satisfied that it safe to precede or resign your position as AP clearly detailing your reasons for concern to your director. To my way of thinking, it is not good enough for you to carry on whilst quietly noting / logging your concerns. All of these notes simply go to show that you knew things were not right but allowed the lifting operations to carry on regardless. Your Director will say that yes you sent a few memo’s detailing concerns but you had the power to suspend the operation if it was unsafe and you didn’t. Therefore, he believed you were just having a bit of a gripe but were actually completely in control of the situation. If you do resign the position of AP, where does that leave the Director? Is he responsible by default? I have no idea. Only my opinion but I believe the ball is in your court now and you have to act positively.

It would be nice if those who state that you either are or aren't accountable after making your employer aware of the hazards could back up their statements with a little objective evidence such as case law etc..... The problem being that you have asked for advice and have received conflicting views. Cover your back is what I say!!

Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, you no longer need to establish a 'controlling mind'

Thanks for the advice everyone. I was (and still am) personally under the belief that I could be held at least partly accountable which is what concerned me. I have asked the MD's to sit down and review the H&S with me as I don't believe they're fully aware of who is legally responsible for what. I have cut the slings up and hope they will listen to me when we get the chance to sit down properly. See how it goes....

Can someone cite prosecutions for offences such as those worrying Pete? Giving these to his MD would significantly strengthen his hand

Heather, please read my FULL post again. I'm sure your apology will be winging it's way to me forthwith :-) I assume you have taken it out of context?

Lets go back to basics here, Peter you say you have been trained? This does not make you competent! As an example, if you were in the construction industry (I don’t know if that is the case) then you would be eligible for a basic AP red card, you have to produce lifting plans and go through an assessment over a period of time before you gain your AP Blue card, which is them deemed you are competent to act without being supervised. Next, you have to calmly talk to you managers/directors with regards to your concerns and has been stated get these meetings minuted. Or write/email these people regarding what you believe to be issues about the working practices. Q. Are you a member of any union or trade body that can assist you? Why do you think this is happening, what’s the culture of the company, is this normal? You can be held to account for your acts/ omissions however, as has previously been stated the brunt of liability falls on the employer. This does not mean you are resolved of any liability especially when you have received training/knowledge in relation to lifting.

Pete, I think you have had enough legal advice, Helen is correct in here statement and you should take that on board. Please stop worrying about being prosecuted etc, get on with the job. Most positions in HSE are subjected to very difficult times, this is one for you. If the job was easy why would the train and pay you?? Its tough! "Get Tough", politely, go and speak with the boss. Set out the points in question, discuss them with him, remembering that as a small company he also is under pressure because he is probably doing a number of jobs, Accounting, Human resources, Marketing, Engineering, Transportation,stock control, warehousing etc the first day he may seem aloof and busy, and so it will be on the subsequent days you go and see him, write to him. Follow up with further visits, dont despair he will respect your persistence and understand why he engaged you if he tells you that your are a nuisance " agree" and tell him thats why he engaged you. If you think the next job will be easier, ooooppss !!!!!!!! think again.........larger corporate companies may have roles where your thoughts may be better recieved but then again they dont have the issues of your current boss, that is working to keep you in employment. Help him. Do your job to the best of your ability and as Helen has said with the tools you have, dont run away. You are a safety "soldier" grit your teeth and get in there fighting, politely, of course, dont give up you will be respected by him and others eventually. Please forget all the legal eagle stuff and get on with the task. I have a throw away saying to my guys ........if it was easy they would have boy scouts to do the job. Regards Wizard