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HSE complaints system paves way for proactive inspection

The HSE has decided to implement permanently an experimental risk-based approach to how it responds to complaints about duty holders from workers and members of the public.

The system (PDF format, 55.28K) (on the HSE website), which was trialled in 2008 and was introduced throughout the UK between April and September 2009, requires NEBOSH-trained "front-line complaints officers" - whose status is below that of an inspector - to place complaints into one of three risk categories, taking into account the seriousness of the possible injury, the number of possible casualties and the likelihood of an occurrence:

 
 

A major step in modernising how the organisation works.

Judith Hackitt,
chair, HSE

 
  • "red" - a "serious risk" that the front-line complaints officer must follow up within 24 hours or pass to an inspector to investigate;
  • "amber" - a "significant risk" that the officer must follow up within five days; or
  • "green" - a "low risk" that is not followed up with the duty holder and is not recorded on COIN (the HSE's corporate operational information system).