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Posted By Mark Kenworthy
I have a little problem I was wondering if you could help me with?
We have a standard safety boot which is available on 'free issue'. No problems there and these boots are worn by most of our staff. But we are getting requests for non standard safety boots at a cost of upto £130! If they meet our minimum safety standard (S1P)and their line manager approves the expenditure then we allow the purchase. Of course if our staff member has a certified medical condition and will fund the whole cost of their boots, but most requests seem to be based on the basis of how good the boot looks or its brand name.
Therefore my question is can we charge an individual for the additional cost of their boots (ie cost of new boot less cost of standard boot)?
Thank you in anticipation
Mark Kenworthy
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Posted By Swis
Yes, you can.
If someone deliberately disapproves the adequate PPE provided then they should fund themselves for the replacement. But you need to make sure that the replaced PPE serves the purpose.
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Posted By Safety officer
Agree with above, yes you can.
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Posted By Bob Youel
where you allow a purchase and the cost of that purchase is above your standard boot cost - all things being otherwise equal - then you should only pay the cost amount of the boot you recommend - any cost above your allowed amount can and should be met by the person wanting the 'fancy' boot
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Posted By Swis
In addition to Bob’s comments, most employer order the PPE in bulk quantities. The law requires employer to provide PPE free of charge. If the new PPE is available to employees and they still want to go for ‘fancy’ PPE then employer can ask them to contribute towards ‘full’ costs, not just the top up costs.
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Posted By Ron Hunter
I'd be very wary of falling foul of Section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act!
My approach, if the employee wasn't 'happy' with the PPE (as agreed in full consultation with employee representatives) would be for the employee to pay the whole cost of an alternative. There is a danger of the employer losing control here.
Then again, I would postively discourage this anyway. Bear in mind also that a duty remains with the employer to ensure alt. PPE meets or exceeds the same standard.
Those with proven medical issues would be a different matter.
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Posted By Phil Rose
Ron is right, I would bear in mind the S9 duties.
Years ago I had a similar experience, the manager of our building works department offered ONE style of footwear only. Most of the 'chaps' were happy with this but a significant minority weren't. At my suggestion, we adopted a different approach and that was that we negotiated with the supplier for a small range of footwear at the same price and then offered the chaps a choice from this range of 3 or 4 styles. This went down well, from both the managers and the workers perspective. The costs and admin were kept under control and the 'chaps' had a bit of a choice of footwear.
Win - win!
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Posted By andymak
From a different angle, are you tied to one supplier?
There are many suppliers of PPE footwear, you may even be able to upgrade to something that people like at no extra cost.
If you are tied in I would say that anything above the norm which is deemed acceptable the employee has to pay the difference. However the employee must have been offered the standard issue and have a good reason other than medical for wanting alternatives.
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Posted By garyh
I agree that you are correct to ask the employee to pay the "extra". In addition, if someone states that they have "medical reasons", I would only accept this is they produce a "Doctor's note" ie something in writing from a Medical Practitioner. That has been my aproach in the past.
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