WHAT IS THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN TO A CONSULTANT IF THE HSE COME TO VISIT?

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are enforcing criminal law against noise and vibration ‘consultants’. This ranging from formal inspections through to written enforcement and prosecution. Enforcement was taken because the work being done by the ‘consultants’ was not at the standard expected: in some cases it lead to duty holders (the HSE’s term for those who operate businesses) taking harmful action. The paper will describe; 1) the law consultants are expected to comply with, 2) examples of poor practice and the enforcement taken 3) work undertaken to produce a simple question set that can be used by duty holders to help them pick a suitable consultant. In all cases the paper will focus on consultancy in the control of noise at work or hand-arm vibration at work.