At the start of November the Sentencing Council published definitive guidelines for the sentencing of health and safety offences. These guidelines will have one of the biggest impacts on the enforcement of health and safety since the implementation of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The sentencing guidelines are of major relevance to the construction sector which is an area where the HSE has carried out significant enforcement action. The new guidelines will apply to all health and safety cases sentenced after 1 February 2016, regardless as to when the offence was committed. Fines for the largest organisations in the sector following a fatality will in future be measured in the millions of pounds and for the worst cases potentially tens of millions of pounds. Currently the typical fine for the worst health and safety offences is between £250,000 and £500,000. Even for a small company in the sector, defined as having a turnover between £2m and £10m, future fines following the guidelines could be up to £lm in the event of a fatality.
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