HOW DO WE DETER EMPLOYERS FROM BREACHING HEALTH AND SAFETY IF NOT THROUGH PROPER ACTION AND TOUGHER FINES?

HSE press release E218:03 - 5 November 2003

"More enforcement action in higher risk industries through the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) more targeted inspection regime, aims to reduce instances of ill-health, serious injuries and needless fatalities. Why then do general levels of fines - the foremost deterrent - remain too low to deter companies from committing more serious breaches?" asks Timothy Walker, Director General of the Health and Safety Executive.

Prompted by the disappointing levels of fines published today in HSE's fourth annual Offences and Penalties report, Mr Walker continued: "It is incomprehensible that fines for especially serious big company breaches in health and safety are only a small percentage of those fines handed down for breaches of financial services in similarly large firms. I understand that financial service breaches can affect people's wealth and well-being, but breaches in health and safety can, and do, result in loss of limbs, livelihoods and lives."

Mr Walker went on to add: "We said last year that we hoped the increase in last year's fines was the start of an upward trend, but this has sadly not been the case. There has been no substantial change to reflect the seriousness of health and safety cases since the Court of Appeal said in 1998 that fines for health and safety were too low."

The HSE's Offences and Penalties report provides details of enforcement action for 2002/03 and shows that 933 companies, organisations and individuals were convicted of health and safety offences.

HSE targets its efforts on those risks and industry sectors that give rise to most injuries, instances of ill-health and deaths. Enforcement has an important part to play and the most serious breaches face the toughest action.

HSE issued a much larger number of improvement and prohibition notices in agriculture and construction this year - two of the Commission's priorities due to previously poor records in preventing accidents and controlling risks. This shows the determination of HSE inspectors to bring about improvements in the way serious risks are managed.

The average fine for health and safety cases across the UK fell by 21 per cent, from £11,141 in 2001/02 to £8,828 in 2002/03 - partly because there were fewer of the larger fines.

Speaking of the work of the HSE, Mr Walker commented: "The report shows the special attention HSE inspectors give to preventing serious risks in industries with poor records. Much of what HSE does is aimed at prevention, but enforcement has an essential part to play. In especially serious breaches, HSE will prosecute."

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) Chair Bill Callaghan said: "The Government and HSC have set ambitious targets in the Revitalising Health and Safety strategy - designed to cut injuries, ill-health and deaths, by promoting partnerships with employers and others. The marked increase in improvement and prohibition notices shows HSE is pursuing the Commission's targets, which aim at preventing accidents and ill-health. However, society is poorly served, by inadequate fines that fail to mark the seriousness of health and safety convictions. Above all it is unfair to the businesses that are managing risks and safeguarding the health and safety of their workforce."

A copy of the Offences and Penalties report can be downloaded from the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/off02-03.pdf

Notes to editors

• This year's report (only available on HSE's website) includes a direct link to the list of offenders for 2002/2003. The list includes some of the UK's biggest companies, as well as small firms, local authorities, hospitals, universities and individuals. HSE's prosecutions database, which was launched in 1999, continues to provide further details of each conviction.
• The HSE Offences and Penalties report is part of a wider initiative to make information on health and safety failures publicly accessible. Additional information on convictions since 1 April 1999 can be found on HSE's website in the public register of convictions. A register giving information on improvement and prohibition notices issued by HSE is also available on the web site.
• In 2002/2003, HSE visited nearly 219,000 employers and other health and safety duty holders, carrying out planned inspections, or investigating reported incidents or complaints. These visits resulted in HSE serving 13,263 improvement and prohibition notices. There were a total of 933 prosecution cases, involving 1,688 separate charges.
• In England and Wales, the health and safety enforcing authorities, HSE and local authorities, bring health and safety prosecutions to court. In Scotland, the health and safety enforcing authorities recommend prosecution to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, who decide whether to bring cases and also conduct them.
• Average fines 'per case' in 2002/2003 fell by 21% from £11,141 in 2001/2002 to £8,828 in 2002/2003. In England, average fines fell by 29% from £12,416 in 2001/2002 to £8,806 in 2002/2003; the lower number of cases in Scotland and Wales lead to more volatile changes in average fine.
• The Offences and Penalties Report aims to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to apply pressure for change. For example, main contractors who are properly concerned to comply with the law and to provide a quality service overall will want to know about the health and safety management record of businesses who submit tenders. Insurers should also be able to consider the health and safety record of a business before setting premiums for compulsory employers' liability insurance. Investors may want to consider all aspects of management competence before putting money into a business.
• The Revitalising Health and Safety initiative, launched on 7 June 2000 by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and HSC Chair, Bill Callaghan, aims to achieve - by the year 2010 - the following targets: reduce the incidence of working days lost from work-related injury and ill-health by 30 per cent; reduce the incidence of people suffering from work-related ill-health by 20 per cent; and reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries by 10 per cent. There is an additional target to achieve half of each improvement by the year 2004.

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