Judges soft on safety offenders, argues Callaghan

News | HSW
01.10.2006

The chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), Bill Callaghan, has called for the courts to impose tougher fines for health and safety offences.

In a letter to the Cabinet Office's Better Regulation Executive setting out the HSC's formal response to the Macrory Review of Regulatory Penalties consultation, Callaghan argues that health and safety is unique and "not always readily comparable with other regulatory regimes". He calls for "more training for judges and magistrates so that the level of fines imposed for healthy and safety offences recognises the gravity of breaches and acts as an effective deterrent".

The Macrory Review was set up in response to a recommendation in the Hampton Report, published in March 2005. Its remit is to examine options for the reform of penalties for regulatory offences to ensure regulators have "a flexible enforcement toolkit, consistent with the risk-based approach to regulation outlined by Philip Hampton".

In an interim report in May, chair of the review Richard Macrory, professor of environmental law at University College London, found that often the cost of bringing prosecutions deters the enforcing authorities from taking any action. His report proposed a range of alternative penalties, such as administrative fines, that could conclude cases more quickly and cost-effectively. The report also noted that the current system does not differentiate between rogue businesses that deliberately flout the law and legitimate businesses that are prosecuted for "strict liability" offences where there was no fault or intent. Macrory argued that there should be better incentives for legitimate businesses to comply with regulations.

In his response to the proposals, Callaghan writes that before alternatives to criminal prosecutions can be considered "objectively", courts will have to start sending out the right message when setting fines. "It is our belief that the current level of fines is too low and needs to be increased," he says "... Fines handed down by the courts should aim to eliminate the financial gain made as a result of regulatory non-compliance".

The Macrory Review's first consultation period ended on 18 August. The final report is due later this year. More information on the review is available at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/reviewing_regulation/penalties/index.asp