Health and Safety Offences Guidelines bite. An explanation of how they work.

By a perverse coincidence, two cases for identical events at the same company (Burger King) enable us to compare the fines imposed after 12th March 2015 when the Health and Safety Offences Guidelines came into effect.

Both fines were for breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 

• That imposed before 12 March 2015 was £13,300.

• That imposed after 12 March 2015 was £153,360.

I think that the fact that the second case was a repeat of the first would have increased the fine because Burger King had not learnt the lessons, but the new level of fines means that companies must be aware of what could potentially hit them. 

Hence the link below to our 2015 blog explaining how the Health and Safety Offences Guidelines work.

See our blog explaining the Sentencing Guidelines