Rank: Super forum user 
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new sentencing guidelines kicking in?
Such a hefty fine, I feel there must be more to this story, presumably there was a long list of safety failings, and I wonder how the HSE got the story of the incident if no-one was seriously hurt.
HSE press release 05/04/16:
Company fined for safety failings
Date:5 April 2016
A metalwork casting and machining company has been fined for unsafe work practices after an employee almost fell through a fragile roof.
Canterbury Crown Court heard how an employee of M J Allen Holdings Limited of Kent was working on the roof of the company workshop when he slipped and almost fell through the fragile roof.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the incident which occurred on 19 September 2014 found the company failed to provide suitable working at height equipment to carry out tasks. Employees had also not undergone specific related working at height on roof training.
M J Allen Holdings Limited, of Hilton Road, Cobbs Wood Industrial Estate, Ashford Kent, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,767.
HSE inspector Guy Widdowson said after the hearing: “This incident had the potential to cause significant, life threatening injuries to the employee who was affected.”
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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I thought maybe £160,000 was a mis-print.
Maybe the sum is based on the size of the company and that the failings existed throughout their operations.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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The harm level is significant for such work so, at that amount it should be a relatively small company and as the new guidelines reiterate :-
Health and safety offences are concerned with failures to manage risks to health and safety and do not require proof that the offence caused any actual harm. The offence is in creating a risk of harm.
We should hopefully see how well this pans out.
Chris
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Rank: Super forum user
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According to the last set of accounts for M J Allen Holdings Limited they had a turnover of £32m in 2014.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I am glad to see the Courts imposing fines which will hurt a company in their pocket. Even though no one was actually injured or killed the risk was significant. Prosecutions like this will be noticed in industry and why wait for a fatality before taking enforcement action?
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Rank: Super forum user
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Then at £32m, I would have said this would have a culpability of high, a harm category of 1 or 2 and they would be in the medium category of business. That should give rise to :-
At category 1 £600k to £2.5M with a start point of £950k
At category 2 £220k to £1.2M with a start point of £950k
They must have had some very good mitigating factors and low profit, or high pension commitment?
Problem is, will it not be the cash poor companies that are more likely to cut corners in H&S. I guess this is a reasonable start and they will hopefully learn their lesson from that fine.
At a recent IOSH meeting I asked the presenter from the HSE about their plan of targeting small to medium building companies against this issue. He agreed this was an issue, but had said they had recently imprisoned someone, in this situation, but gave no more info.
As always time will tell.
Chris
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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Then the fine seems a little low.
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Rank: Super forum user
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The fine should have been higher. Much higher.
The directors and senior staff should have had to pay it.
Fining the firm is fining the workers too.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Noticed an error in my post (danger of copy and paste) this line
"At category 2 £220k to £1.2M with a start point of £950k"
should be £450k at the end not £950k
Chris
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