Tragic death of a five year old girl

A five year old girl was in the lift at her family’s home and put her head through a damaged vision panel. The lift started moving upwards, trapping her between the lift and the ground floor ceiling. This resulted in fatal neck and back injuries. The tragic event occured because the property management and the elevator service company did not follow the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The property management company and the elevator service company both pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The two companies have been sentenced in January 2019. The property management company has been fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £40,000, while the elevator service company has been fined £533,000 and ordered to pay costs of £40,000. A third property management company has been ordered to rest on file. This means that there is enough evidence for a case to be made, but it is considered to be of less importance.

HSE inspector Leo Diez said: ‘As a result of their negligence, a wholly avoidable tragedy, under horrific circumstances, has occurred where a five-year-old child has lost her life and a family have been left utterly devastated at the loss of their little girl. Companies should know HSE will not hesitate to take the appropriate enforcement action against those who flout health and safety law.’

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Scaffolding company fined 10k after serious injury to worker

A Dorset based scaffolding company employee was working on constructing an access tower and guard rails around the roof on industrial units in Christchurch. As he completed his own work, the worker went to the roof to help his colleagues with the guard rails. He fell five metres down through the skylight injuring his pelvis, wrists, ribs, elbow and arm. This resulted in three weeks of surgeries, ongoing physiotherapy, being registered disabled and unable to work. His wife also had to give up her job to look after him.

The scaffolding company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They have been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,666.80.

HSE inspector Caroline Penwill said: ‘Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work related fatalities and injuries in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known. Mr Norris’s injuries were life changing for both him and his family. He could have easily been killed. This serious incident could have been avoided if the work had been properly planned to reduce risk.’

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Death at a waste and recycling company

A worker of a waste and recycling company was walking across the yard of the waste transfer station when he was hit by a reversing refuse collection vehicle. This resulted in an instant death at the scene.

The company did not assess the risk involved in the yard or implement industry recognised control measures to avoid such accidents from happening. The waste and recycling company was found guilty of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, has been fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £130,000.

HSE inspector Kevin Golding said: ‘This should be a reminder to all industries, but in particular, the waste industry, to appropriately assess the risks and implement widely recognised control measures to adequately control manoeuvring vehicles, in particular reversing vehicles and restrict pedestrian movements around vehicles.’

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Fines for health and safety violations in the UK have risen to record levels in recent years, affecting thousands of organisations across the UK. But who pays them? What are the costs? And how can you avoid them altogether?

2018 was, without a doubt, a landmark year for fines handed down for breaches in health and safety. Prosecutions have steadily grown year on year, and for the first time since legislation was introduced in 2015/2016 the average cost of fines rose to over £1 million. Additionally, fines in several landmark cases have topped more than £2 million as the UK government calls for greater accountability in health and safety. However, navigating all of the reports, statistics and legislation on them can be an extraordinarily daunting task. This article sets out to highlight everything you need to know about health and safety fines in the UK.    

What is Considered a Breach of Health and Safety?

A breach of health and safety is defined as an action or incident that infringes on rules set out in workplace legislation (such as The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations or The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992). However violations also broadly fall under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA). The Act outlines the general duties that employers and employees have to safeguard the workplace, the manner in which Authorities should conduct investigations and sentencing guidelines for health and safety violations.

Who Enforces Health Safety Fines?

There are a number of authorities and institutions who may be involved in investigating health and safety in the workplace.

Initially, a health and safety officer may determine if certain measures have been broken. Health and safety officers are often appointed by organisations to oversee safety in the workplace. As part of their duties they:

  • Develop and regularly update the organisations health and safety policy.
  • Ensure that each member of staff is aware of and follows this policy.
  • Perform risk assessments and maintain an accident record.
  • Work closely with management, as well as health and safety inspectors, industry authorities and trade unions.

An investigation could also fall to Local Authorities (LA) who oversee health and safety measures in the public sector, or to Enforcing Authorities (EA) who monitor specific sectors, such as national railways or nuclear power stations. Both Local and Enforcing Authorities have powers to hand down health and safety fines, and can also bring criminal proceedings against offenders.  

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is an independent regulator that oversees health and safety standards in high risk industries, from factories and farms to building sites, offshore installations, schools, and government premises. Local and Enforcing Authorities will often consult with the HSE to evaluate cases and to determine an appropriate course of action. In severe circumstances, the HSE will take the lead on pursuing charges against organisations for breaching health and safety regulations.

How is an Investigation Conducted?

Once a breach is reported authorities will open an investigation that sets out establish the facts of the case. The HSE and Local and Enforcing Authorities follow a system that is outlined in the Health and Safety Act 1974:

  • Gather relevant information  
  • Analyse information
  • Identify risk control measures
  • Assess existing health and safety protocol

Once an investigation is concluded, a number of factors can determine the next course of action, including the severity of the incident, the level of risk involved, what measures were already in place and if it could have been prevented. Authorities could determine if an incident is a minor breach of regulation. While this is still a serious offence, the investigator may hand down improvement or prohibition notices that will give relevant parties time to address the issue. Under these circumstances organisations might avoid prosecution but be liable to pay a Fee for Intervention (FFI) to authorities to help recoup the cost of an investigation. However, if the breach is severe the authorities may choose to escalate cases to criminal proceedings which can be tried in either a Magistrate or Crown Court.

Who Pays for Health and Safety Fines?

A breach of health and safety regulations can be considered a criminal offence, and anyone found culpable can face disciplinary or criminal proceedings. As a result, both employers and employees can be handed health and safety fines.

  • Employers have a duty of care in the workplace and can face disciplinary and criminal action if found liable. This could happen if authorities find there has been a failure to oversee and enforce good health and safety practice.
  • Employees must also take responsibility for the safety of themselves and others in the workplace. If their actions break health and safety regulations, they could face disciplinary action, ranging from a verbal or written warning through to dismissal from employment. In severe cases investigating authorities may recommend that the individual receive a fine, a term of imprisonment or even both.

How Much do Health and Safety Fines Cost?

Section 33 of the HSWA outlines the sentencing guidelines for breaches in health and safety. For cases tried in a magistrates court, organisations can be expected to pay anywhere between £5,000 to £20,000. However for cases that are tried in Crown Court, fines are unlimited. Courts can also order defendants to pay additional legal costs, victim surcharges and compensation to anyone affected. Additionally, costs cannot be recouped through insurance. As a result, fines can have a direct impact on an organisation’s financial security.

While health and safety fines on their own can be devastating, the bad publicity that comes with them also leave a definitive mark. Breaches can cost an organisation their reputation, affect their future business prospects and have a negative impact on their industry standing.

What is the Best Way to Avoid Health and Safety Fines?

The consequences of breaking health and safety laws can be daunting, and for good reason; they’re designed to be. The UK government believes that a zero-tolerance approach to breaches will push organisations to take health and safety seriously and help reduce risks in the workplace.

But what is the best way to avoid fines for health and safety? The HSE determines that the most effective method is to ensure that both employers and employees play a proactive role in maintaining workplace safety.

For Employees:

  • Always follow the health and safety protocols in your workplace
  • Regularly review your organisations health and safety policy to stay up to date with any changes.
  • Request additional training and refresher courses.
  • Report any health and safety issues you find to the proper authorities.

For Employers:

  • Make sure that your organisation has a strong and regularly updated health safety policy.
  • Create an effective health and safety training strategy and offer regular refresher courses to your workforce.
  • Appoint a health and safety officer to make sure that effective health and safety measures are in place.
  • Create a reporting system so that health and safety issues can be addressed as swiftly as possible.
  • Work closely with industry experts, trade unions and appropriate authorities to address health and safety issues.

The key thing to take away is that ultimately, health and safety legislation is designed to be preventative rather than curative. By staying vigilant in maintaining health and safety in the workplace, both employers and employees can avoid the risk of health and safety fines.

This article is purely for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.

Visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk For more information regarding fines and regulations for health and safety in the UK.

Market abuse refers to processes in which individuals and/or firms aim to decrease market integrity and reduce investor protections. An offence related to Market Abuse is Market Manipulation. In 2016, the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), which contains prohibitions on market manipulation and other market abuse offences, came into effect. You can find out about this in the introduction to VinciWorks’ Market Abuse Course.

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Fines for health and safety breaches are rising – and rising fast.

During the first year that new sentencing guidelines were introduced (year to 31 January 2017) fines increased from £35.4m to £73.2m – an increase of 74%. Fines levied by local authorities increased by a staggering 1870%, from £0.8m to £15.2m.

Rising fines are coupled with an increase in prosecutions of company directors and senior managers for failing to protect the health and safety of their employees and stakeholders. In 2017 alone, 46 directors and managers were held accountable for health and safety failures, with 12 facing jail time.

Comments from the Minister of State for Health and Safety, Mike Penning, suggest that the tougher sentencing guidelines are having the intended deterrent effect: “By handling greater sentencing powers to Magistrates and Sheriffs, it has sent a clear message to unscrupulous employers that if they do not take their responsibilities seriously they will face stiff penalties, which include heavy fines and, in the very worst cases, ­prison.”

These increasing fines, when combined with the enormous reputational cost of a major incident, reinforce the notion that maintaining health and safety is a business-critical issue – and one that is inevitably making its way into boardrooms. A major health and safety incident could cripple a company, and represents a risk that no company can ignore.

Speaking about the rises in prosecutions and fines, technical director of the Institution of Occupational Health and Safety (IOSH), Brenig Moore said: “The government is clearly committed to making health and safety a boardroom issue and holding organisations accountable for any corporate failings, the consequences of which are tougher than ever. It is now in the best interest of the business and individual directors to establish a high standard of health and safety and avoid the risk of such large financial penalties and possible prison sentences.”

Health and safety incidents in 2018

A few major prosecutions and fines in 2018 demonstrate the government’s commitment to punishing organisations that neglect health and safety.

Builders Costain and Galliford Try were jointly convicted over an accident in which a worker lost several toes. They were fined £1.4m each.

Home builder Willmott Partnership Homes was fined £1.25m when people were exposed to carbon monoxide in a new block of flats.

Engie Regeneration (Apollo) was fined £800,000 after a tenant fell through a weak surface during building work.

An electrician at the Atomic Weapons Establishment suffered burns to his arm, leading to a £1m fine. The accident was caused by a known issue.

Bridgend County Borough Council was fined £300,00 following a collision with a school minibus, despite the council being aware that the parking arrangements at the school were inadequate and dangerous.

Stagecoach was fined £2.3 million after one of their buses was accidentally driven into a supermarket. The driver had been cautioned for his erratic driving previously.

Preserving health and safety at work

While the risks of breaching health and safety laws at work are increasing because of new sentencing guidelines, very little has changed when it comes to an organisation’s duty to protect health and safety.

As many of the cases above show, many incidents – and particularly those that result in prosecutions and fines – are caused by known issues that organisations fail to address. While it can be difficult for organisations to identify all the issues that present a risk to health and safety, steps can be taken to raise awareness of the importance of health and safety, and employees can be encouraged to record risks so they can be mitigated.

Perhaps the first step for any organisation is to raise awareness of health and safety, and ensure that all colleagues know that health and safety isn’t just an inconvenience, but a vital component of successful trading.

Computer protected by a vault

28 January marks the 12th annual Data Protection Day, launched by the Council of Europe in 2006. The day marks the date on which the Council of Europe’s data protection convention, known as “Convention 108” was opened to signature. This was the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection.

Since the last Data Protection Day, the EU has made great strides in ensuring businesses respect and protect individuals’ personal data, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force on 25 May. The US looks set to follow suit with the California Consumer Privacy Act, which has a lot of similarities to GDPR, coming into force in January 2020. Further, Google’s recent €50 million fine by France and cyber security breaches reportedly costing UK victims over £190,000 a day shows still have a long way to go to ensure businesses truly protect personal data.

While some organisations are slowly working towards complying with GDPR, others are proactively reviewing their policies, processes and training. To help with compliance, the VinciWorks GDPR resource page is regularly updated with policy templates, five minute knowledge checks and direct access to all our GDPR webinars.

GDPR resources

Micro-course: 6 Principles of Data Protection

GDPR Knowledge Check

GDPR Guide

GDPR Data Protection Policy Template

All GDPR resources

Screenshot from the latest competition law course
The new Market Rules courses contain interactive scenario questions to test users’ understanding of the law

VinciWorks has released two new courses under the subject of Market Rules to help businesses train their staff and comply with complex competition law and market abuse rules. Coming against the backdrop of increasing enforcement action from the Competition and Markets Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, VinciWorks’ new Market Rules courses will cover UK competition law and the European Union’s Market Abuse Regulations.

Competition Law: Know Your Market

Competition Law: Know Your Market drops users into a set of immersive scenarios to test their knowledge, understanding, and ability to comply with UK competition law.

The course is broken into short modules that cover different aspects of UK competition law, including price-fixing, cartels and meetings with competitors. Each module contains simulations of real business dilemmas with key learning points related to the scenario.

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The Marriott hotel group recently reported a huge data breach, which they claim has been ongoing since 2014.

The company identified the breach after an internal security tool alerted them to an unauthorised access attempt. After investigating the breach, they discovered that an unknown agent had copied and encrypted information in one of their databases of guest information.

The Starwood group of hotels, which includes St Regis, Sheraton and Westin, was bought by Marriott International in 2015, making it the world’s largest hotel chain.

Their vast customer base seems to have been an attraction for hackers, who are believed to have accessed and copied 500 million records. 327 million of those records include names, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers and dates of birth.

This makes the Marriott breach the second largest in history, though it lags far behind the Yahoo breach which affected 3 billion users.

How did hackers breach Marriott security?

The New York Times reports that a US government investigation into the breach indicates that Chinese state hackers were responsible, though no details have been released regarding the tactics used.

Are you affected by the Marriott Starwood data breach?

If you have stayed at any of the Starwood group hotels, you are advised to change your passwords and understand that your data (name, payment details, address, phone numbers etc.) could be passed on to cybercriminals.

This kind of customer data is frequently used to facilitate fraud. For example, a fraudster might use the information they have to pretend to represent your bank, or your mobile phone provider, so that you hand over access codes, payment information – or simply validate the information they already have.

How can companies prevent customer data breaches?

When even the largest companies in the world – and the most tech savvy – seem incapable of protecting customer data, what can smaller companies and SMEs do to fight back against the constant threats from hackers?

Keep up. As quickly as companies deploy new security standards, hackers are working on a way to crack it. Just as companies ditch insecure technologies, hackers are engineering a back-door to the new solutions. And just as companies teach their employees about popular social engineering techniques, hackers are already moving on to new tactics.

It’s very difficult for large organisations, with their policies, teams and ways of doing business, to outfox cyber criminals who work alone (or in small groups), share information freely and have no compulsion to follow any rule or law.

In spite of this, it’s important that companies try to stay up to date with changing threats.

Prioritise security. One theory about the Marriott hack is that senior executives did not prioritise data security during the acquisition of the Starwood group, leading to weaknesses in the databases or connections between systems, which may have been exploited by hackers.

Data security should be a C-level issue. Security should be driven from the very top, and prioritised in all activities.

Test. When was the last time you tested your network and systems to ensure they can’t be accessed by third parties? Penetration testing might help you identify weaknesses in your security and prioritise fixes.

Raise awareness.As we’ve discussed on this blog before, digital security is a company-wide issue, and every employee is a gatekeeper to your customer data, networks, systems and intellectual property. Employees often provide the gateway for hackers, either deliberately or accidentally, so it makes sense to invest in employee training.

Is your company vulnerable to data breaches?

VinciWorks provides a suite of eLearning solutions, including courses on data protection, cyber security and GDPR. You can either choose our solutions as off-the-shelf courses, or you can adapt them to suit your organisation’s needs with our Adapt authoring tool (or we can manage this for you).

Gary Yantin, Director of Best Practice
Gary Yantin, Director of Best Practice at VinciWorks

In a webinar on competition law, I interviewed the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) David Harper and Kwadjo Adjepong. During the interview, they covered price fixing, market sharing and cartels. You can download the full interview and webinar, together with useful competition law compliance resources, here.

Lack of knowledge on competition law

In a recent study conducted by the CMA, most businesses were unclear of the dangers of breaching competition law, with a third of businesses unaware that it is illegal to fix prices. Head of Investigations and Intelligence David Harper cited that a lot of companies are more concerned with money laundering regulation, with half of businesses not even knowing it was illegal to discuss prices with other businesses in their industry. While the vast majority of companies want to do the right thing, they find all the legislation difficult to work through. David sees a big part of the CMA’s role as supporting competition to allow businesses and consumers to benefit from competition law.

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The Lawyer recently published an article highlighting some of the biggest City law firms’ lack of effort in combatting workplace harassment and bullying. In the article, these large firms are criticised for only doing the minimum, if that, to ensure workplace harassment does not go unnoticed and unidentified. When faced by The Lawyer with the question of how many people have been dismissed for inappropriate behaviour in the past year, many firms avoided answering the question.

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In our recent webinar we covered competition law and what you need to know to be compliant. We were lucky to be joined by Head of Investigations and Intelligence David Harper and Assistant Director of Cartels within the Enforcement Directorate Kwadjo Adjepong from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). We explored the implications of existing competition law and gave guidance on how to comply with the legislation. We also answered questions on competition law and what you need to do to comply.

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