Penalties — notices and fines


The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) provides for three main systems of enforcement. These are:


• improvement notices;


• prohibition notices; and


• fines or imprisonment.


When an improvement notice is served, the employer must take action to put things right within a specified time. If the employer fails to comply, a prohibition notice may be issued, stopping the operation that is causing the hazard.


Inspectors have the power to issue an immediate prohibition notice, stopping an operation if there is a risk of immediate danger. A deferred prohibition notice may also be issued. Appeals against these notices must be made to an employment tribunal and can lead to a stay (delay) of execution of an improvement notice. There can be no delay in implementing a prohibition notice if the inspector believes that the risk of serious personal injury is imminent.


The maximum sentence for health and safety offences depends on the date that the offence was committed and the court that passes sentence. The Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 increased penalties for some offences committed after 16 January 2009, by increasing the maximum fine and introducing imprisonment for certain offences. In addition, Section 85 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (which came into force on 12 March 2015) increased the level of most fines available for magistrates’ courts to an unlimited fine (previously £20,000 for most health and safety offences). The increase applies in respect of offences committed on or after 12 March 2015. In addition, prison sentences of up to six months (if the case is heard in the magistrates’ courts) or two years (if the case is heard in the Crown Court) can be handed down for most health and safety offences.


Judges can impose fines which consume or exceed company profits, even in cases where an employer has not been found to have deliberately cut corners to make a profit (R v FJ Chalcroft Construction Ltd [2008] EWCA Crim 770).


In 2014/15, the HSE prosecuted 650 cases. These prosecutions led to fines totalling £16.5 million, an average penalty of £18,198 per offence. Local authorities prosecuted 78 cases. These prosecutions led to fines totalling £2.8 million, an average penalty of £19,962 per offence. The annual figures are published on the HSE website (www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/prosecutions.htm).