Health & Safety Fines Increases

Health & Safety Fines Increase: 1

As previously reported, health and safety fines are set to rise following the Court of Appeal's statement last year in R -v- Howe & Sons that the level of fines was too low. Two recent cases show that the new guidelines set out in that case are already having an effect on decisions in the Magistrates and Crown Courts.
Dunlop Tyres Limited was fined £100,000 plus £2,855 in costs after being convicted for the death of an employee last year at one of its West Midlands sites. The employee was killed after becoming entangled in heavy machinery, which was inadequately guarded. Despite pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA), Dunlop was committed to the Crown Court for sentencing as the Magistrates felt that their powers were insufficient for this case. The maximum fine available in the Magistrates Court is £20,000 for Section 2 offences, whereas fines are unlimited in the Crown Court.
R -v- Dunlop Tyres Limited

Health & Safety Fines Increase: 2

A prosecution following the Rivenhall de-railment in September 1997 has attracted a record fine for a railway accident of £500,000. The fine was imposed on Balfour Beatty Rail Maintenance Limited who pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3 of HSWA. The accident occurred where Balfour Beatty was rectifying a slurried track, which had drainage problems. In determining the level of fine, the Crown Court judge considered the very real danger that lives would have been lost if a passenger train had crashed into the de-railed freight train. The cause of the accident was held to be lack of supervision by Balfour Beatty, and the use of a manifestly unsafe method of work. The judge indicated that only Balfour Beatty's early guilty plea and their immediate steps to prevent a repetition of the incident prevented the fine reaching seven figures.
R -v- Balfour Beatty Rail Maintenance Limited
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