Was wondering how others have, or have not developed a relationship with the HSE and reasons for this. We have a number of sites and have been looking into how we can engage the HSE to work with us, provide advice, and generally try to develop a good working relationship, understand our business and our sites. Not sure with the impeding FFI, if we are being naive and should not encourage the HSE visiting sites, but seems to me that developing a working relationship is something we should try to encourage.

Would appreciate others views, and opinions.

Many Thanks

Rhodesia, a bit like Tweety Pie approaching Sylvester for friendship.

If you are confident that your own safety regime is appropriate, what benefit would HSE bring? They won't give you any stamp of approval.

If you are not confident, seek advice, support, guidance and expertise from people who are set up to do that as their main role. i.e. hire a safety professional or a consultant with very specific results in mind.

No douby others on here will advise differently but I believe that with the current constraints and budget of HSE you will be better served looking for an alternative friend.

Unless you are in a high hazard industry they have no interest in, and have no time to be having, a 'relationship' with you. They are not advisors. They are not friends. They enforce the law. And they don't even have time to do that.

If you want outside help get a consultant.

Based on my experience it is possible to have a relationship with the HSE but it is important to understand the nature of that relationship. The HSE are principally an enforcement agency not a OH&S consultancy. They will provide very general advice but not as someone said when it comes to specific advice they tend to sit on the fence. They will, just advise you to get on with the suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

In what is deemed to be a high risk area the Crane world both Mobile and Towers I personally, and we at company level have struck up very good relations with HSE Inspectors. Always found them to be helpful and honest if they felt they (like us at times) were moving out of their comfort zone. I think like others it is the old horses for courses thing.

Good Luck Alex

Did a presentation in Buxton at a HSE sponsored event a while back. The abiding memory from the meal the night before was an HSE inspector saying 'Before we start can I remind you that NOTHING is off the record'!
Needless to say the table sat virtually in silence.

Having had some good and bad experiences with the HSE and ORR as they are now called, I would say the relationship is very much down to the individual. Some inspectors are helpful whilst others use their status like demigods. However, generally I would agree with the comments so far, regulators don't normally provide 'friendly' advice and in this current climate you are more likely to receive an invoice than a pat on the back.

With 10 years as an HSE inspector at the start of my OS&H career and then some 25 years as an adviser with intermittent experience of inspectors from the other side of the fence, I agree with many of the earlier comments. HSE is primarily an enforcement body and its inspectors should not be regarded as consultants. It is feasible for OS&H advisers and consultants to have a positive and professional relationship with inspectors provided that they understand its boundaries and limitations. Also, as in any organisation, HSE inspectors are individuals and demonstrate different attitudes and approaches, hence the contrast between the practical constructive ones mentioned earlier and ones like the party-pooper at the dinner.

Perhaps it's due to amnesia now on my part but I don't recall any problems with safety officers, etc during my time with HSE. I got to know some quite well, either through multiple visits to premises or joint visits to multiple sites of large organisations. They had their remit and I had mine. Furthermore, 'off-record' comments/information, whether from me or vice-versa, could be very useful and were mutually respected.

p.s. As regards the party-pooper at the dinner, has anyone any further suggestions about what should have been done or said to him? Bear in mind that this is a professional forum so take care with your suggestions - which is why I'm not revealing my own thoughts because they might bring this forum into disrepute!

Another thought: It seems that an increasing number of HSE inspectors are members of IOSH - they're OS&H professionals albeit with a role which is different from those of most other members.

Some years ago I was at a committee meeting of the Public Services Section of IOSH Manchester & North West Districts Branch to plan its next year's programme of meetings. For one meeting during the latter part of the following year we chose a very topical subject but had difficulty confirming a speaker before the Branch annual programme went to press. Therefore, the programme named the topic but showed the speaker simply as TBA (to be arranged). Not long after the programme was posted to members I made enquiries to find a speaker and a specialist HSE inspector was recommended to me as a very suitable one. When I phoned him, he said that he was a member of IOSH and had received a copy of the programme. Furthermore, with particular interest in the subject, he had noted it in his diary with the intention of coming to the meeting. He added that he had wondered who the speaker might be but hadn't expected it to be him. Anyhow, he willingly accepted the invitation and ultimately gave a very useful and informative presentation.

There is the beginnings of a formal scheme for organisations to work with the HSE, specifically the HSE LEad Inspector scheme:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/fo...sims/pub_serv/071202.htm

In additon, the Prime Authority scheme is available for organisations that are under the remit of local authority EHPs.

As somewhat feeble answers to my question in #15 about the inspector who proclaimed to fellow diners 'Before we start can I remind you that NOTHING is off the record!', how about the following:

"Well, you didn't tell us anything about this before, so you can't really give us a reminder!" or

"No problem, er, because we weren't going to divulge anything sensitive to you anyway!"