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A client has been contacted by a 'beligerant' local authority inspector who tells him that he has a legal right to come an inspect the premises at any time and intends to visit shortly.
I have not been able to find a great deal on LA inspection protocols - can anybody point me in the right direction please?
The client is a landlord of leased office spaces.
Ta.
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Rank: Forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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Thanks Alistair, I did not make myself clear; I was after the general protocol of the enforcing authority and how they should contact the sites they were visiting. I am sure that saying something like "I have a legal right to come and inspect you at any time"i sn't in any such protocol.
NB: Never assume anything is 'common knowledge'
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Rank: Super forum user
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Decimomal wrote:Thanks Alistair, I did not make myself clear; I was after the general protocol of the enforcing authority and how they should contact the sites they were visiting. I am sure that saying something like "I have a legal right to come and inspect you at any time"i sn't in any such protocol.
NB: Never assume anything is 'common knowledge' Each LA will have their own enforcement protocol, though I'm sure there are templates that they generally follow. You don’t state the LA, but I’m sure it is published on their website somewhere. However, I'm really not sure what you query is about? LA EHO's are authorised under HASAWA, they do have a legal right to inspect premises at any reasonable time unannounced. Is it their tone you are not happy with? I don't think this would be included within any protocol. The reasons for an unannounced inspection are obvious and it's a relatively common practice! (although some softly-softly LAs have a policy of arranging a scheduled visit in the first instance, it appears you client isn’t located within one of these)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Is your client telling you the whole story?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Legal authority as an authorised officer to visit, inspect, remove etc etc at any reasonable time.
I suspect there are 2 sides to this, we only have one.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Quite surprised that the inspector is giving your client advance warning. When I worked for HSE this was VERY rare, including as regards unannounced visits at weekends and nights. (The case law says that "any reasonable time" means any time that work is going on)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I suspect Ron is right. Although I am slightly less inclined to be as defensive of LA EHO's than I have been (and therein lies a tale) but in the main I don't think that most are likely to be belligerent, as this will only generally lead to complaints.
They are of course entitled to inspect pretty much when they like, this is 'standard stuff' isn't it? In saying in my experience most inspections by HSE (and LAs) are with notice.
I suspect that there is more to this than meets the eye!
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I agree with Peter; you are lucky to get a notice of inspection.
I used to deal with about 8 different LA's all bar one used to turn up unannounced. Incidentally the one area that I did get 'notice' from used to ring me up the day before and ask me to take any relevant centrally held records with me - we both agreed that it made both our jobs easier - and I had a very good working relationship with two of the inspectors there.
Try and take the opportunity to build up a rapport with the LA - it can be of benefit.
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