Report on UK firms and individuals guilty of health and safety crimes

Citation

(2001), "Report on UK firms and individuals guilty of health and safety crimes", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 14 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2001.06214bab.004

Report on UK firms and individuals guilty of health and safety crimes

Report on UK firms and individuals guilty of health and safety crimes

In October 2000, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published its first ever enforcement report, which named hundreds of companies, organisations and individuals convicted of health and safety crimes during 1999/2000. The report, Health and Safety Offences and Penalties, lists around 1,600 individual offences and includes several big-name companies, as well as small firms, local authorities, hospitals and universities throughout Britain.

In 1999/2000 the HSE prosecuted 1,133 cases, involving 2,253 charges – an increase of 9 per cent and 28 per cent respectively on the previous year. In total, the HSE served a total of 11,304 improvement and prohibition notices. Of the 2,253 informations laid before the courts, only 72 led to a "not guilty" or "not proven" verdict. All of these figures are provisional.

The report is published as part of the implementation of the Revitalising Health and Safety initiative, launched by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chair of the Health and Safety Committee, Bill Callaghan, in June 2000. This includes a 44-point action plan which aims to achieve, by the year 2010:

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  a 30 per cent reduction in the incidence of working days lost from work-related injury and ill-health;

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  a 20 per cent reduction in the incidence of people suffering from work-related ill-health; and

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  a 10 per cent reduction in the rate of fatal and major injuries.

The target is to achieve half of each improvement by the year 2004.

The enforcement report is in two parts. The first contains a commentary on trends in the general level of penalties, enforcement issues in specific industrial sectors, how those sectors need to improve and what the HSE is doing to help achieve this. The second gives details of all 1,600 convictions, with additional detail of these provided on a special website database (http://www.hse-databases.co.uklprosecutions/). The information can be accessed by geographical location, type of industry, size of fine and type of work activity.

The director of HSE, General Timothy Walker said:

Companies, organisations and individuals must be held accountable for their health and safety performance: their professional reputation should depend on it. The convictions are there for everyone to see, including would-be customers, contractors, investors, employees and insurers. They all have a right to be aware of an organisation's health and safety record before they decide whether to invest their capital and labour. I want this report to create pressure to improve on those who have failed in their responsibilities towards workers and the general public. I also hope it will deter others, who will not want to be named in this way. Of course I would much prefer health and safety failures not to occur in the first place – and much of what the HSE does is aimed at prevention. But when breaches do occur I make no apologies for naming those responsible.

Mr Walker also criticised the low general level of fines still being handed down by Britain's courts, saying:

Health and safety crimes cause pain and distress to the victims and their families. In 1998 the Court of Appeal stated that fines for health and safety offences were too low. I agree, yet since then there has been only limited progress – with the average fine of under £7,000. Society has a right to expect that, when a business or individual is found guilty, the penalty handed down by the courts reflects the seriousness of the offence. This is simply not happening enough.

He concluded:

In addition to the courts exacting stiffer penalties under existing law, we need tougher new penalties and more widely available prison sentences, as laid out in the Government's and Health and Safety Commission's "Revitalising Health and Safety" strategy. This aims for significant improvements in Britain's health and safety at work record. I am also hopeful that the Government will proceed quickly to introduce the proposed manslaughter legislation, which will create a new offence of corporate killing.

Further information is available from HSE's InfoLine. Tel: +44 (0)8701 545500, or write to: HSE Information Centre, Broad Lane, Sheffield S3 7HQ. The report, Health and Safety Offences and Penalties can be downloaded from the HSE's Web site at http://www.hse.gov.uk/policy/enforce.pdf