Employer without compulsory insurance fined

Date:

13 November 2009

Release No:

HSE/E/34

A Cambridgeshire retailer has been fined £1,000 for failing to have compulsory insurance to protect his employees.

The case has prompted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to remind all employers about the need for insurance and warn that it will take action against those who fail to protect their staff.

Dipak Kumar Kantial Solanki, who owns Melbourn Stores, 49 High Street, Melbourn, was asked to produce a current Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) certificate when an Environmental Health Officer from South Cambridgeshire District Council visited the store in April 2009.

Mr Solanki failed to present a certificate and he was issued with an ELCI "notice to produce" by the HSE. Despite this, Mr Solanki still failed to present the document.

All employers who are required to have an ELCI certificate must produce a copy if requested to do so by a HSE inspector.

Yesterday (Thursday 12 November 2009) Mr Solanki pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to have insurance at Cambridge Magistrates' Court.

HSE Inspector Andrew Saunders said: "This case should serve as a warning to all employers about how seriously HSE takes this issue.

"Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance is designed to protect employees and ensure they are covered if there is an accident in the workplace. Failing to have this insurance potentially leaves members of staff doubly vulnerable in the event of an accident or ill health."

Notes to editors

1. Mr Solanki was fined £500 for each offence and ordered to pay £539.60 costs at Cambridge Magistrates' Court today.
2. Mr Solanki pleaded guilty to two breaches of Section 1(1) of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.
3. Section 1(1) of the Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance Act 1969 says: "Every employer carrying on business in Great Britain shall insure, and maintain insurance, under one or more approved policies with an authorised insurer or insurers against liability for bodily injury or disease sustained by his employees."

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR East