Health and Safety Laws are a part of the criminal justice system, successful prosecutions of individuals and companies are treated as criminal convictions. 

As with any part of the legal system in the UK, Health and Safety Law is in a constant state of evolution. 

Changes to Acts of parliament, new or updated regulations, changes to the Approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs) and Health and Safety Guidance (HSGs), all change the way the law in interpreted by the courts. 

Health and Safety Best practice issued by various trade associations and the British Standards Institute can also explain how organisations can use cost effective ways of complying with H&S law (e.g. PASMA, IPAF and SEMA.)

In Law including Health and Safety Law there is some areas of black and white but a awful lot of grey, that is why most companies use a Health and Safety expert to tell them about these grey areas in the law. A lot of money can be wasted in these grey areas of the law.

Not to be underestimated though is the way in which legal precedence (or legal test cases as they are often called) affects the way the law is interpreted in the courts, in criminal and civil including Health and Safety cases.

This Health and Safety Legal update area then will contain updates in Health and Safety Laws (Acts and Regulations), ACOPs, HSGs and also examples of how actual prosecutions of organisations are interpreted by the courts in terms of fines and other penalties.