SENTENCING SEMINAR IN ABERDEEN
Jamie Gilchrist QC, of the Compass Chambers Regulatory Team,
will be presenting a seminar: “Health & Safety sentences: on
the up?” at the Compass Chambers Annual Conference in Aberdeen on
6 May 2010. Places for the Conference, which also includes three
further seminars and a drinks reception, are still available. Follow
the link for full details:
www.compasschambers.co.uk/news.asp
H&S SENTENCING ROUND-UP
OOn
15 March 2010 at Sheffield Crown Court, Corus UK Plc, Europe’s
second largest steel producer was fined £100,000 in respect of a
breach of s.2(1) of the HSWA arising from an accident in Rotherham in
which a mobile crane overturned. The crane operator, who had not
received sufficient training, sustained only minor injuries.
On 4 March 2010 at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court, Anthony Hill was
fined £3,500 (plus £2,000 costs) for breaches of s.2(1) of
the HSWA and Reg. 31(1) of the CDM Regulations. The circumstances of
the case, in which a worker was buried in a trench when the sides
collapsed, were redolent of those in the first corporate manslaughter
case to come before the courts in England (R v Cotswold Geotechnical
Holdings Ltd, which was adjourned at Bristol Crown Court recently and
is expected to come to trial in October)
On 26 February 2010 at Doncaster Crown Court, Rotherham Council was
fined £75,000 (and ordered to pay £18,350 costs) in respect
of a breach of s.2(1) of HSWA which resulted in the death of an
employee who was crushed by a reversing lorry during road resurfacing
works. The operator of the lorry, Brocklebank & Co. (Demolition)
Ltd was fined £30,000 for a breach of s.3(1). The court heard
that vehicle movements on the site were not sufficiently controlled.
Compass Regulatory Members:
Peter Gray QC
Andrew Smith QC
Mark Stewart QC
Gary Allan QC
Jamie Gilchrist QC
David Sheldon
Barry Divers
Steve Love
Susan Duff
Graeme Middleton
Amber Galbraith
Barry Smith
Yvonne Waugh
Compass Clerking Contacts:
Irene Mackenzie
Michelle Williamson
Grace Moran
To view previous
Bulletins:
January 2009
February 2009
April 2009
June 2009
September 2009
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NEW H&S POLICY STATEMENT FOR FIRE BRIGADE
On
12 March 2010, the HSE published details of a new policy statement
agreed with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), the Fire
Brigades Union (FBU) and the government's Office of the Chief Fire and
Rescue Adviser (OCFRA).
The statement, which aims to set out a “sensible and
proportionate approach” to the assessment and control of risk in
the emergency service has been published at a time when the issue of
risk assessment by fire officers has come under intense scrutiny in
Scotland.
On 5 March 2010, at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, in the Fatal Accident
Inquiry concerning the death of Alison Hume, the senior fire officer in
charge of the rescue operation was criticised by the representative of
the Hume family for apparently preventing fire fighters from attempting
to recover Ms Hume from the mine shaft into which she had fallen. He
apparently acted in accordance heath and safety requirements as he
understood them and under reference to an internal fire brigade memo.
The Scottish Chairman of the FBU has stated that the new policy
statement is not a response to the FAI but welcomed the new guidelines.
To read the policy statement in full, follow the link:
http://www.hse/gov.uk/services/fire/duties.pdf
DIRECTORS’ DUTIES A STEP CLOSER?
Private Members’ Bill introduced
In
the September edition of the Bulletin, we reported on the
recommendation of the Donaghy Report that new, positive duties should
be imposed on directors to ensure health and safety. The DWP, to whom
the Donaghy Report was presented, and HSE, are yet to comment on the
proposal but the issue has been taken up by the publication HSW
which is seeking support for a petition calling for directors’
duties. Now backbench Labour MP Frank Doran has introduced the Health
& Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill.
Criticising the adequacy of existing provisions, including the
self-regulatory guidance set out in the joint HSE/IoD Guidance, Mr
Doran stated:
“My
Bill will place a positive duty on all company directors to take all
reasonable steps to ensure health and safety in all aspects of the
company's activities-effectively to put them in the same position as
all other employers and to remove a glaring anomaly in our health and
safety laws.”
The
Bill, the text of which will not be officially published until the time
of its second reading debate in Parliament on 23 April 2010, is
understood to propose amendments to the HSWA to introduce positive
duties on company directors of the sort recommended in the Donaghy
Report.
To track the Bill’s progress through Parliament, follow the link:
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10(...).html
CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER & H&S OFFENCES CAUSING DEATH
SGC Definitive Guideline published
In
the November edition of the Bulletin, we reported the publication of
the SGC response to the SAP paper on sentences in cases of Corporate
Manslaughter and for fatal cases under the Health and Safety at Work
etc Act 1974.
On 9 February 2010, the SGC published its Definitive Guideline (SGC
01/10) for courts in England and Wales. The Guideline makes clear that
fines for companies found guilty of corporate manslaughter “will
seldom be less than £500,000 and may be measured in millions of pounds.” For other H&S offences causing death, fines “will seldom be less than £100,000 and may be measured in hundreds of thousands of pounds or more.”
Importantly, the Guideline recognises the distinction, which the
English courts have long-since reflected in their sentences, between
cases in which the breach caused the death and those where such a
causal connection is absent.
To read the Guideline in full, follow the link:
http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk(...).pdf
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Compass Chambers