What period of notice does a Department of Labour health and safety inspector need to give before entering a workplace?
An inspector will often make an appointment, depending on the purposes of the proposed visit, but advance notice is not legally required.
A visiting inspector is only required to give notice where the visiting time or circumstances are other than what would be usually be considered "reasonable".
A health and safety inspector can therefore visit any place of work during its regular working hours and where there are no other circumstances that would make the visit "unreasonable". Inspectors will try to ensure that the circumstances are not unnecessarily disruptive to the employer, employees or others in the place of work.
The timing of an inspector's visit may not always be at the most convenient time for the person in charge of the place of work or others but a balance must be struck with the inspector's statutory duty to carry out their role.
Date Modified: Tuesday, December 07, 2010
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