Strict New Guidelines on Sentencing for Health and Safety Offences:
Some very important guidelines for sentencing come into force which will drastically increase the consequences of health and safety breaches on individuals and organisations.
The new sentencing guidelines for health & safety offences are in force from 1 February 2016. They were intended to increase the level of fines, particularly for larger organisations. However, unintended consequences of the way punishments are now calculated mean that judges will be forced to hand out very much greater fines than originally expected and send many more directors, managers and junior employees to jail for breaching health & safety laws.
http://www.shponline.co.uk/the-new-sentencing-guidelines-is-your-board-prepared/
It is going to be difficult for an individual convicted offender to escape a jail sentence if he or she was aware of a risk of being in breach, nobody suffered an injury but several people were exposed to a ‘medium’ likelihood of death or disability. This is a very significant reduction in the threshold for imprisonment for health and safety offences.
It has never been more important to bring the importance of health and safety to the attention of board members and senior executives and to explain how the law expects them to act in order to stay out of jail.
Hospital Trust held accountable for the deaths of four patients
Four patients lost their lives because a lack of safety procedures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust resulted in careless and unnecessary failings.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the deaths of four patients between 2005 and 2014 at Cannock and Stafford Hospitals. The Trust managed both hospitals.
The breaches of health and safety law in regards to two of the four deaths (Jean Tucker in 2005 and Ivy Bunn in 2008) were found during two inquiries into events at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009. HSE prosecuted Mid Staffordshire Hospital Trust in 2014 for the death of Gillian Astbury, who died in April 2011.
A further two cases (Joy Bourne 2013 and Patrick Daly in 2014) were brought to HSE’s attention after the Francis Inquiry where the Trust had been found to have broken the law.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (MSFT) was placed into special administration and ceased to provide health care services on 31 October 2014.
Three of the patients suffered falls that led to their deaths and a fourth, Jean Tucker, suffered a severe anaphylactic reaction after being given penicillin, despite having informed the hospital on several occasions that they were allergic to it.
The Health and Safety Executive investigated the Trust, in line with its policy to investigate deaths that occur in the health sector where there is evidence that clear standards had not been met because of a systematic failure in management systems.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was prosecuted by HSE and pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in relation to all four patients.
At Stafford Crown Court, it was today fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £35,517.34 costs.
HSE principal inspector in the West Midlands, Wayne Owen, said: “The deaths of Jean, Ivy, Joy and Patrick were preventable. Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust failed them and their loved ones.
“The Trust failed to follow a number of its own policies in relation to handing over information, completing records, carrying out falls risk assessments and the monitoring of care plans. These systems were not robust enough to ensure they were followed consistently and correctly.
“It is in the public interest that any hospital Trust is held accountable for serious breaches of the law resulting in death or life-changing harm. We expect lessons to be learned across the NHS to prevent tragedies like the losses of these four lives from happening again.”
The families of the four victims collectively provided a statement: “We all expected our loved ones to return home from Stafford Hospital having had the correct care and treatment and their lives should not have ended when they did. It has been a harrowing experience to know that they died in an unhappy and undeserved manner.
“Some basic rules had not been adhered to and the level of care was simply not good enough.
“We acknowledge the Trusts unreserved apologies and the conclusion of this case goes some way to bringing the closure that we all need. It is hoped that lessons will be learned across the whole NHS to ensure hospitals do not put other families through the same terrible ordeal.”
Runcorn company sentenced after HGV crushes worker to death:
In court 28th January 2016
A Runcorn haulage firm has been ordered to pay £90,000 in fines and costs after an employee was crushed to death by a runaway lorry.
Tony Schulze had been trying to connect a cab to a lorry trailer when the incident happened at Freight First Ltd’s premises on the Astmoor Industrial Estate on Goddard Road on 22 January 2011.
The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the 49-year-old from Runcorn did not normally drive articulated vehicles, had not received training on coupling lorries, and there was no written procedure for the work.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mr Schulze had been working at the site at the weekend, and had been asked to line up the trailers in the company’s small yard so they could be used for deliveries and pick-ups on the Monday morning.
When Mr Schulze released the brakes on the trailer, it began to roll forwards on the sloping yard. He ran down the side of the trailer, in front on the cab and attempted to jump into the open door but the HGV struck another vehicle in the yard, crushing him between the door and cab frame.
Mr Schulze’s colleagues tried to rescue him before the emergency services arrived, but he died at the scene.
HSE’s investigation found there was not a safe system of work for the coupling and uncoupling of vehicles, and that the handbrake in the cab had not been applied. Although Freight First Ltd had prepared a general risk assessment in May 2010, it did not deal with the task of connecting cabs to trailers, or identify the risk of runaway vehicles.
The court was told that an external health and safety adviser had highlighted the lack of a risk assessment in December 2010 – a month before Mr Schulze’s death – but no action was taken.
Freight First Ltd, of Whitehouse Industrial Estate, Aston Fields Road, Preston Brook, Runcorn, was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £67,500 in prosecution costs after being found guilty of a breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Adam McMahon said: “Mr Schulze tragically lost his life as a result of the failings of his employer, Freight First.
“The case highlights the need for transport companies to ensure their employees have the correct training. They should also act on advice from health and safety experts and make sure safe systems of work are in place.
“If Mr Schulze had pulled the park button on the trailer when it started to move then it would have activated the trailer brakes. However there is no evidence to prove that Mr Schulze had received training on coupling the HGVs, so may well not have known this.”
Guidance on Coupling and Uncoupling of Trailers is available as a download here:
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Staffordshire firm fined after worker loses arm
In court 27th January 2016
A Staffordshire farming firm has been sentenced for safety failings after a Polish worker had to have his arm amputated when it was caught in the rollers of a potato grading machine.
Marek Wasilewski, 35, of Swadlincote, was trying to clean the rollers of the machine at Blakenhall Park, Barr Lane, Barton under Needwood, when the incident occurred on 12 November 2013.
The machinery had to be dismantled to enable his left arm to be released, but the crush injuries were so severe it later had to be amputated at the shoulder. Mr Wasilewski also suffered multiple bruises and scratches on his head, neck, right arm and back and had to have five stitches to the middle finger of his right hand.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an investigation into the incident and prosecuted his employer W B Daw & Son for safety failings.
Stafford Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Wasilewski ‘s duties included operating, cleaning and clearing blockages on the machine, into which potatoes harvested from the field were fed to be cleaned and sorted.
He sat down underneath the rollers of the machine to clean them while they were moving using a long screwdriver, but the rollers drew his left arm into the machinery right up to his shoulder.
The investigation found that there were unsafe systems of work being used, which involved cleaning and clearing blockages from the rollers while they were still rotating under power.
On Monday 25 January 2016, W B Daw & Son, of Woodhouse Farm, Pipe Lane, Blithbury, Rugeley, Staffordshire, was fined a total of £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000 after being found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
After the case, HSE Inspector David Brassington said: “Incidents of this kind are all too common and generally have serious consequences. The onus is on employers to ensure that suitable and sufficient risk assessments are undertaken for work activities involving exposure to dangerous parts of machinery, and to make sure that robust safe systems of work are implemented to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.
“This incident could have easily been avoided had the machine been switched off and securely isolated before cleaning work started. But W B Daw & Son had failed to give clear instructions to its employees and failed to monitor their activities, so a series of unsafe methods of cleaning the potato grader had developed.
“The employer’s failings led to this young man having his arm amputated and he and his family will now have to cope with those serious, life-changing injuries.”
In 2013/14 the majority of fatal injuries to workers were either falls from height, contact with moving machinery or being struck by a vehicle.