Company fined £234 following working at height injury

c halvey
Member - 1 post

I totally agree with you Alan, it's absolutely laughable. How on earth is Health and Safety to be taken seriously when such blatant non compliances, with such serious potential consequences, are treated so lightly.

Alex McMillan
Member - 2 posts

This is absolutely disgusting. This fine is probably less than the cost of proper equipment. And people wonder as to why we still have such a high number of workplace accidents and injuries??

David Price
Member - 84 posts

The company was fined £234 plus £200 costs and a victim surcharge of £15.

I agree that this is not the highest fine ever given by the HSE, but it is surposed to act as a deterrant not a punishment.

There is still the compensation claim by the employee, to take into account. Which will no doubt be a considerable sum when settled.

The crawl boards in this case were not the correct type, if a proper risk assessment and method statement has been provided for this work then this accident should have been preventable, some companys will continue to use this get by method of working, knowing that to hire or buy the correct equipment costs more than the job is worth?

What they fail to see is how much an employee is worth, when as a result of their not following the correct proceedures an employee has had a serous accident and could have been killed, I hope the HSE are taking a close look at the company concerned, and all of their H&S paperwork.

Fines like this one won't stop this kind of thing from happening again, but then again they are not meant to?

Alan Cork
Member - 9 posts

David, I can see you are trying to be objective but this fine puts out all the wrong signals. This has got to stop. Ridiculous small fines like this will not deter contractors from ignoring the law.
The fact is that no business will spend money on anything these days unless it is forced to. Therefore Health and Safety will continue to suffer unless it becomes widely known that you cannot get away with poor management.
The HSE needs to start showing it's teeth (if it has any) otherwise it should be scrapped and an alternative body with more accountability should be introduced.

David Price
Member - 84 posts

Alan, I know its hard to take in sometimes, and things like this just go to prove that the HSE is not keeping up with the times as we all know, but they don't have enough inspectors to inforce to the level we would all like them to.

The Govenment has given them less money year on year, and they cannot be everywhere they need to be, that is why companys have people like you and I to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the first place.

I'm not sure if you are aware that the HSE cannot fine a company too much that this could cause them to go out of business, so just how much they do get fined seems to be a lottery, just like when a Judge gives a sentance we don't agree with.

There is no imput from the industry that they are paid to protect, all they want to do is to be seen to do something rather than nothing. So until someone is appointed to the HSE with balls, then i'm affraid that this hit and miss way of dealing with accidents in the workplace will continue.

Mark Shuttleworth
Member - 57 posts

The level of the fine should have been sufficiently high as to ensure the company makes every effort to become compliant, and if that menas some hardship for those at the top, so be it.

A total fine of £449 is offensive to the poor guy who fell through the roof. I bet thats not even the bosses weekly wage. I worry that we are becoming too much of litigious society but in cases like this i can see why, I hope he is compensated properly.

Peter MacGregor
Member - 3 posts

I seem to recall that in September 1998 a High Court Judge stated “…fines must be sufficiently large to bring home to managers, directors and shareholders the need to observe Health and Safety Legislation.”

Seems the judges today haven't remembered that ruling.

£449 is hardly going to do that. The fine should not only deter the guilty but remind others they have a responsibility.

Peter MacGregor

Damon Rowley
Member - 2 posts

It should be remembered thatit is not the HSE that set the level of the fine, but the court.

The HSE did the right thing in prosecuting, it is the judiciary that has messed up this case by handing out a fine that is an encouragement to flout the law rather than the deterrent it should be.

Alan Cork
Member - 9 posts

Thanks to everyone that has responded and of course Damon is right, it is not the HSE that sets the fine. The fact remains that there is a fundamental flaw in our judicial system that allows this to happen.
It would be useful to know what influence the HSE has in these matters. Clearly not enough in this case.