Research by law firm Clyde & Co. has shown that the number of company directors prosecuted by HSE in the year to 31 March 2016 more than trebled from 15 to 46 persons. In the same period the number of employees prosecuted has fallen from 10 persons to just 1. According to the research of…
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Health in construction is a big issue and HSE are pushing hard to get the message out to clients of all sizes that health in construction is a very high risk. The latest figures show that as many as 100 staff per week die from ill health causes through their job – and that’s just…
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Back in 2013 we wrote a post informing you of the changes which were made on strict liability which links directly to no win no fee liability; read our original post here A number of changes were put together which aimed to cap the costs charged by solicitors and to remove the incentive to make…
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In a move which we suspected might come to pass some years ago it has been announced that health and safety enforcement may change for smaller businesses. During July 2016 the HSE ran a consultation on health and safety enforcement allocation. Chiefly, it looked at the role of the local authorities. A range of options…
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We’ve carried out many monitoring programmes which have involved exposure to styrene vapour over the past 20 or so years. The substance is in common use and because of this businesses and their staff can sometimes become too familiar with the substance and fail to take adequate precautions. We also have heard staff assuring us…
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The news is full of Brexit and the likelihood is that your sick of hearing about it! In that case sorry, but I couldn’t resist responding to a few clients who have raised questions on how it might affect safety laws and regulation over the coming months and years. In truth I think most people…
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Despite HSE insisting that its Fee for Intervention (HSE FFI) scheme is not intended to plug the hole in its finances caused by the reduction of its government grant recent figures show a 13% decline in enforcement notices (improvement notices and prohibition notices). At the same time a 26% increase in the charges made under…
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With almost 12 months elapsed since the introduction of Fee For Intervention (FFI) we have heard for the first time of an individual being fined under the scheme. The individual was employed as a scaffolder working on a Carey Housing project. The HSE Inspector was driving by the site when he noticed the scaffolder working…
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