Health & Safety penalties

Higher fines for health and safety offences could be on the way from January under the new Health and Safety (Offences) Act, which received Royal Assent on 16 October.

The Act, which comes into force on 16 January, amends Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act to raise the maximum penalties available for offences in the lower courts from £5000 to £20,000. It also makes most offences imprisonable. For example, magistrates and judges can now imprison individuals convicted under Sections 7, 8 or 37 of the HSW Act which cover breaches by individual directors and employees. Minister for work and pensions Lord McKenzie has stressed that prison should be reserved for the most serious offences.

The Act was introduced to parliament in 2007 as a Private Member's Bill by Labour MP Keith Hill and Lord Bruce Grocott. According to McKenzie, the Act has the government's wholehearted support. He echoed the findings of Professor Richard Macrory's report on regulatory sanctions and the HSE's view that the level of fines for some health and safety offences is too low.

"These changes will ensure that sentences can now be more easily set at a level to deter businesses that do not take their health and safety management responsibilities seriously," said McKenzie, "and further encourage employers and others to comply with the law."

Some offences that would have been tried in the lower courts will now go to trial in the higher courts and prison sentences handed down by lower courts could be considerably longer.

The Sentencing Guidelines Council is also due to publish new guidelines on penalties for corporate manslaughter convictions and deaths at work in the coming months