Businesses to face tougher health and safety penalties

Employers caught breaking health and safety legislation will face tougher penalties under new measures due to come into force in January.

The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008, which received Royal Assent earlier this month, raises the maximum penalty which can be imposed for breaching health and safety regulations in the lower courts from £5,000 to £20,000.

It also grants the courts greater sentencing powers and widens the range of health and safety offences which carry a custodial sentence.

Ministers have welcomed the impending changes. ‘It is generally accepted that the level of fines for some health and safety offences is too low,’ said Lord McKenzie, the Department for Work and Pensions Minister.

‘These changes will ensure that sentences can now be more easily set at a level to deter businesses that do not take their health and safety management responsibilities seriously and further encourage employers and others to comply with the law.’

‘Furthermore, by extending the £20,000 maximum fine to the lower courts and making imprisonment an option, more cases will be resolved in the lower courts and justice will be faster, less costly and more efficient.’

The Sentencing Guidelines Council is also due to publish new guidelines on penalties for corporate manslaughter convictions and deaths at work in the coming months.