{"id":854815,"date":"2025-06-11T09:11:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/overhaul-of-health-and-safety-fines-could-help-struggling-construction-firms\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T09:11:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:11:47","slug":"overhaul-of-health-and-safety-fines-could-help-struggling-construction-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/overhaul-of-health-and-safety-fines-could-help-struggling-construction-firms\/","title":{"rendered":"Overhaul of health and safety fines \u2018could help struggling construction firms\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New guidance for judges on health and safety fines could help save struggling construction firms from \u201can existential crisis\u201d, commentators have said.<\/p>\n

It comes as new guidance from the Sentencing Council<\/a> on the level of fines to be handed to very large firms came into force on 1 June.<\/p>\n

Previously, judges would assess the level of fines based on a firm\u2019s turnover but under the changes courts now need to also take note of their financial circumstances.<\/p>\n

Claire Burrows, a partner and regulatory specialist at independent law firm Brabners, told Construction News<\/em> that the move will be welcomed by the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should be a welcome development for the construction sector,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh turnover doesn\u2019t always equate to high margins \u2013 especially as operators continue to contend with pressures ranging from high input prices and supply chain uncertainty to the ongoing skills shortage. For many, a fine could stimulate an existential crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reformed health and safety fines\u00a0introduced in 2016<\/a>\u00a0saw recommendations given to judges for how to sentence companies ranked as being either micro, small, medium, large or very large based on their turnover.<\/p>\n

Large companies were deemed to have turnover of \u00a350m and above but no specific figure was put on \u201cvery large\u201d other than that they \u201cgreatly exceed\u201d \u00a350m.<\/p>\n

In those cases, judges were only told to \u201cmove outside the suggested range to achieve a proportionate sentence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now, the updated guidance recommends fines must be proportionate.<\/p>\n

Kevin Bridges, regulatory expert at Pinsent Masons, said the amendments aimed to provide \u201cgreater clarity and consistency\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is significant and is intended to avoid any implication that a sentencing court should start with a consideration of the sentencing ranges for large organisations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was said [by the Sentancing Council] to be \u2018somewhat inconceivable that these ranges could ever be applicable\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Burrows said the move meant large contractors will not be \u201coverly penalised\u201d due to their size.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reform will mean that fines are no longer simply determined by scale, but context as well. While deterrence remains a key principle, the aim is proportionality, meaning that the law must differentiate between deliberate non-compliance and inadvertent error,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis matters because many large contractors already invest heavily in safety systems and personnel. Their breaches are rarely a result of negligence, but of human error or operational blind spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a business is doing the right things, such as training staff, auditing risks and embedding compliance into project design, it should not be overly penalised simply because of its size.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the guidelines should reinforce the notion that understanding your risks and addressing them proactively is not just wise \u2013 it\u2019s vital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balfour Beatty<\/a>\u00a0chief executive Leo Quinn has previously warned that the definition of a large contractor at \u00a350m could help \u201cbankrupt many small construction companies\u201d.<\/p>\n

The number of prosecutions carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in all industries in Britain\u00a0has plummeted in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2008\/09 it completed 1,090 prosecutions. The number fell to\u00a0711 in 2015\/16<\/a> and in 2023\/24 the HSE carried out only 228 prosecutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Related Article<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Nicola Harley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New guidance for judges on health and safety fines could help save struggling construction firms from \u201can existential crisis\u201d, commentators have said. It comes as new guidance from the Sentencing Council on the level of fines to be handed to very large firms came into force on 1 June. Previously, judges would assess the level<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":854816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267,31038],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-854815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","category-overhaul"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}