Health and safety fines against companies have risen significantly in the past year as a result of new sentencing guidelines that came into force on 1 February 2016. According to Osborne Clarke, which made a Freedom of Information Act request along with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, the largest fine was £5m for the Alton Towers theme park rollercoaster crash. A further 19 fines of £1m or more included Foodles Production’s’ fine of £1.6m for actor Harrison Ford’s broken leg while filming Star Wars: the Force Awakens. The largest 20 fines cost a total of £38.6m, compared to £13.5m in 2015 and £4.3m in 2014.
09 February 2017
Big fines
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Fieldfisher—Will Sharp
Fieldfisher boosts structured finance practice with appointment of Will Sharp
gunnercooke—Thomas Bjorn & Peter Rudd-Clarke
gunnercooke grows its life sciences team with new partner hires
Leonard Curtis Legal—Mark Maguire & Kane Jones
Leonard Curtis Legal expands corporate team with twonew appointments
NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
An indemnity costs battle with a £20m gap could reopen an important question: what weight should an approved budget carry?
The Environment Agency can prosecute offences beyond environmental legislation where proceedings support its statutory functions, the Divisional Court has confirmed
Should a conviction stand when a later ruling reveals that the law underpinning it was wrong? The answer exposes a clash between finality and justice
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
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