Construction industry hardest hit with dramatic increase in health and safety fines

Companies in the UK paid out more than £61M in health and safety fines last year following the introduction of new legislation according to research conducted by law firm BLM.

The figure is almost 2.5 times the amount of that paid in 2015, with the average fine increasing from £69,500 to almost £250,000.

The construction industry was hardest hit and faced a bill over £13.5M in 2016 – an increase of almost £7M on the previous year’s figure.

The huge spike in the cost of fines follows a change in legislation in February last year, with new guidelines imposed for health and safety, food hygiene and corporate manslaughter offences.

Larger companies with a turnover of more than £50M can now be hit with fines of up to £10M for health and safety breaches, with corporate manslaughter fines reaching as high as £20M.

Last year saw 18 fines issued with a value of over £1M in comparison to just two in 2015.

Helen Devery, Partner and Head of Health and Safety at insurance and risk law firm BLM, said: “The new sentencing guidelines send a strong message to all businesses big or small: it is people and business critical to ensure that safety processes and systems are a board level priority.

“The introduction of the risk of harm means that near misses will be reviewed and subject to potential prosecution so this has been a game-changing 12 months for the industry.”

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