Institution of Occupational Safety and Health slams disparity in company fines
August 17, 2007
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has slammed the "stark contrast" between the hefty fines handed out by the UK courts for financial offences and the comparatively small fines given for offences causing death in the workplace.
The safety professionals’ organisation was prompted to speak out following a recent case which led to a fine of £121.5 million for British Airways for illegally fixing fuel surcharges on long-haul flights.
The biggest fine ever in the UK for a health and safety offence was the £15 million fine handed out to Transco in 2005 over the Larkhall explosion in Scotland, which killed a family of four in 1999.
In England and Wales, the biggest fine has been the £7.5 million fine given to Balfour Beatty over the Hatfield rail crash, which also claimed four lives.
Lisa Fowlie, President of IOSH, said, "While price-fixing is a very serious offence, we can’t understand how this offence is more than 8 times more serious than killing a family of 4, and more than 16 times more serious than a rail crash that claimed 4 lives."
According to IOSH, the average UK fine for health and safety offences in 2003/04 in the Crown Court, where there are unlimited fines available, stands at £33,036. In magistrates’ courts, where the maximum fine is £20,000, the average is £4036. The average fine for cases involving death in 2003/04 was £43,113.
Ms Fowlie said, "We hope that with the new Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act coming into force, this disparity between the most serious health and safety offences and financial offences like this one committed by BA will shrink."
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