New sentencing guidelines represent “sea change” in health & safety law
Health and safety fines are soaring, with four UK companies incurring fines of more than £1m in the space of six days in January.
Fines of £4.8m were imposed between 21 and 26 January 2016. Meanwhile, tough new sentencing guidelines for health and safety and corporate manslaughter took effect on 1 February. Under the guidelines, large UK companies face unlimited fines with a starting point of £7.5m on organisations with a turnover of more than £50m, for corporate manslaughter. Smaller organisations with a turnover of up to £2m could face a fine of £450,000 or more.
Last month, C.RO Ports London Ltd was fined £1.8m following an incident where an employee caught his arm in a rotating machine. National Grid Gas plc was fined £1m after an engineer became trapped between two gas pipes. Balfour Beatty was fined £1m after a fatal crane incident. UK Power Networks (Operations) Ltd was fined £1m following the death of a runner who was electrocuted by a low-hanging high voltage power cable.
Gerard Forlin QC, of Cornerstone Barristers, who told NLJ in November that the new guidelines would “send a chill through corporate UK”, says: “Many parties may well have been trying to get cases to court before the guillotine date of 1 February 2016 heralding the new guidelines. The above listed fines appear to be a barometer or precursor of what is to come.
“Fine levels (and terms of imprisonment) are set to explode, and will inevitably lead to more trials. For those cases where guilty pleas will be entered, complicated preliminary hearings dealing with culpability bandings and turnover utilising experts will become the norm. Only time will tell, but how easily will courts be able to manage these additional, potentially lengthy hearings in already clogged up calendars? These guidelines represent a real challenge to everyone concerned.”
Danny McShee, partner at Kennedys, says: “The new sentencing guidelines represent a sea change in health and safety law. We anticipate that as the courts become familiar with the guidelines over the coming months, we will be increasingly advising corporate clients that they face a level of fine which, until very recently, would have been almost unfathomable.”
