Cautioned Interview Guidelines

Cautioned Interview Guidelines – Facing a Cautioned Interview for Health and Safety or Food Hygiene Matters

In this short piece, Peter Phillips (a Senior Health and Safety Consultant with LRB Consulting Limited and an ex-EHO (Environmental Health Officer) gives you some sage advice on what to do if you are invited to a Cautioned Interview by an Enforcement Officer. Peter has helped many people to prepare for this and has assisted some of them at the interview.

Try to avoid the Cautioned Interview in the first place

A cautioned interview may arise where an enforcement authority believes a breach of the law has taken place and the person being interviewed may be guilty singly or in part for the offence, or they are deemed to speak for a Company that might be held in breach.

Obviously, the best way to deal with a cautioned interview with the Health and Safety Executive or the Environmental Health services is to avoid being invited to one.  In general, even where there is deemed to be a breach of legal requirement, enforcement authorities usually do not go beyond the letter or notice stage as long as we take them seriously and make a genuine attempt to put things right.

Think carefully about appointing a solicitor

It is often a good idea to consult a solicitor when there is the possibility of legal action, but the traditional stance of the legal profession, to say nothing, is not always the best way forward and does little to repair the relationship with the enforcement officers.  It is, however, very important to give careful consideration to what is said and who says it.

Think about what you say, and don’t say too much

Sometimes, but rarely, you may be cautioned on site during the enforcement visit.  This is a time to limit what you say.  By all means, give your name and position.  If you are then asked anything that you feel uncomfortable about answering, simply state ‘I will answer your question, but in writing after due consideration and advice’.  This cannot then be quoted in Court as you refusing to answer.  You then have time to take advice and consider your answers carefully.

Understand why they are inviting you for Cautioned Interview

If you are invited to a cautioned interview, normally at the enforcement agency’s office, be sure of the capacity in which you are attending.  If the invitation is to you personally, the evidence may be used in a prosecution against you as an individual, and you should act accordingly.  If the invitation is addressed to the Company and asks for attendance by a representative of the Company, it is essential that the person attending can speak for the Company as a whole.  This would normally be a director a chief executive with appropriate delegated powers.  The attendance of a manager without such authority would not satisfy the enforcement agency.

Think carefully before declining to attend a Cautioned Interview

There is no obligation to accept the invitation to cautioned interview, but non-attendance will result in the authority making their decision about further action purely on evidence they have already gathered.  Attendance at the interview is an opportunity to present the business in a positive light and convince the authority that it is not in the public interest to prosecute.  To this end, it is often a good idea to attend such an interview with a pre-prepared statement, which can be sent beforehand.  This statement is a useful guide in answering questions at the interview.

Choose your words carefully, and give positive messages where possible

It is important to choose your words carefully at the interview, remembering it is being recorded.  At no time should you admit guilt to any accusation of an offence but steer your answers towards demonstrating what good practices the Company has in that particular area.  Where a question has a direct accusation in it you might answer something like ‘I respect what you are telling me, but I have no evidence myself of this event happening’. Then go on to emphasise the controls you do have that are applicable to the matter in question.  For every negative accusation be ready to respond with a positive demonstration of the Company’s good practice.

If you are confident enough, you can steer the conversation to what good practices your organisation does have, rather than simply give short answers to the authority’s prepared questions.  It is unlikely that you will distract an experienced officer from the questions they have planned but you can change the mood of the conversation to the positive.

Always be polite and calm and sound like you are being helpful even if you are doing everything possible to avoid an admission.