Are The Courts Finally Taking Health and Safety Breaches Seriously?

[bluebottle]

I came across this whilst browsing the internet - http://www.essentialskillz.com/healt...hed-by-bus-488

Some of the incidents listed with the incident in the link make sobering reading, especially when you read what happened to the poor unfortunate victims.

Most of the incidents have occurred in the workplace, but some have occurred due to shortcomings on the part of care homes, and in the vast majority of cases, they were avoidable.

I'll leave it to LB members to decide whether the courts are taking health and safety breaches seriously with the fines, etc., they have handed down.

[teaboy2]

Re: Are The Courts Finally Taking Health and Safety Breaches Seriously?

Its all very well issues fines, but the money doesn't go to the victim. I would be more interested in knowing what compensation the victims got rather than what the court fine was.

So without knowing what if any amount of compensation was awarded along with the fine, its very difficult to determine whether the courts are finally taking health and safety in the workplace seriously or not.

[bluebottle]

Re: Are The Courts Finally Taking Health and Safety Breaches Seriously?

Whilst I agree with what you say, TB, don't forget that vested interests saw to it that the criteria for claiming compensation for health and safety breaches have been changed from balance of probability to beyond all reasonable doubt. Only a government that is rotten and rotten to the core would contemplate and bulldoze such a significant change of that nature through Parliament.

Perhaps what is needed is a statutory accident insurance scheme, similar to what exists in Germany, where employer and employee pay into the scheme which is administered by the Federal German government, not insurance companies as it is in the UK. I suspect insurance companies won't like it, but they are part of the problem.

[wales01man]

Re: Are The Courts Finally Taking Health and Safety Breaches Seriously?

We need to see managers owners and staff personally fined and punished for any offences then we may see a change in the culture of ignoring the basics especially in the case of care homes a conviction against a manager will kill their job prospects forever if they do tit once they can do it again

[bluebottle]

Re: Are The Courts Finally Taking Health and Safety Breaches Seriously?

We need to see managers owners and staff personally fined and punished for any offences then we may see a change in the culture of ignoring the basics especially in the case of care homes a conviction against a manager will kill their job prospects forever if they do tit once they can do it again

I totally agree with you, Wales. The only problem is that the law has been written in such a way that directors and managers can obfuscate to the point that prosecuting an individual becomes nigh on impossible and only the company gets prosecuted. Notwithstanding, there is provision within health and safety law to hold individuals to account.