Welcome to OMS Blog
Stronger Sentencing for Health and Safety Offences
February 25, 2009
New legislation has come into force in January affecting the level of sentences that can be imposed for breaches of health and safety legislation.
The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 provides the courts with greater sentencing powers for health and safety crimes.
In essence, the new law has:
The new penalties in the Act are not retrospective and will not apply to offences committed before it came into force i.e. offences before 16 January 2009.
So what does this mean for employers?
Well firstly, there is no need to worry! The Act does not actually impose any new duties on employers or businesses, and the HSE is not changing its approach to how it enforces health and safety law.
My message to the many employers who do manage health and safety well is that they have nothing to fear from this change in the law.
For those not taking their health and safety management responsibilities seriously at present, this I suppose will act as a further deterrent, as it was generally accepted that the level of fines for some health and safety offences was too low in the past.
Posted by Clive Ormerod
The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 provides the courts with greater sentencing powers for health and safety crimes.
In essence, the new law has:
- Raised the maximum fine for breaches of a health and safety regulation from £5,000 to £20,000;
- Made imprisonment an option for more health and safety offences in both the lower and higher courts;
- Extended certain offences, which are currently heard only in the lower courts, to be tried in either the lower or higher courts.
The new penalties in the Act are not retrospective and will not apply to offences committed before it came into force i.e. offences before 16 January 2009.
So what does this mean for employers?
Well firstly, there is no need to worry! The Act does not actually impose any new duties on employers or businesses, and the HSE is not changing its approach to how it enforces health and safety law.
My message to the many employers who do manage health and safety well is that they have nothing to fear from this change in the law.
For those not taking their health and safety management responsibilities seriously at present, this I suppose will act as a further deterrent, as it was generally accepted that the level of fines for some health and safety offences was too low in the past.
Posted by Clive Ormerod
