Health and safety is our thing. While we offer a vast range of products and services, we understand that sometimes it is the basics that are the most important factors when running a business. Running a business is a labour of love but you also have a responsibility to all the stakeholders that work for or interact with the business in any way. This doesn’t need to be a customer; this can simply be someone in the community where work is taking place. That is why your health and safety assessment must be thorough and recorded.
Health and safety breaches are a surprisingly common. They’re common because businesses either forget or ignore that risk assessments need to be done. These are to ensure their business practices and premises are safe and not in breach of the rules. Using a business like Direct365 to assess the fire risks or PAT testing in your business could be the difference between compliant or complaint.
What are the Health and Safety rules?
With each different industry there is a number of legislative practices that must be done. These will often be specific to that industry, so won’t be overarching for everyone to do. The Health and Safety at Work act is the piece of legislation that covers all industries. It is a wide-ranging piece of law that ensures employers protect the “health, safety and welfare” of their employees. For more details on the basics of the Health and Safety at Work act, see the HSE website here.
The Top 5 Health and Safety Fine’s in 2021
National Grid – £4m
This case proves that injuries don’t need to occur for the law to be upheld.
The National Grid fine was the biggest of last year. It was given to the company because of historical cases of failing to make records available so that health and safety inspections could not be completed.
British Airways – £1.8m
The famous airline has a reputation of high quality but this fine – for an employee who was injured by a tag vehicle on Heathrow runway – shows that even the greatest businesses can cause danger to their employees if they don’t regularly assess the risks that their processes face.
“Using a business like Direct365 to assess the fire risks or PAT testing in your business could be the difference between compliant or complaint.”
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) – £1.5m
EPUT was fined for a number of serious breaches regarding a failure to prevent a number of suicides on their watch.
The mental health trust was prosecuted, and pleaded guilty, on 11 counts of death that could have been prevented. The business was fined by HSE for “systemic failures” while their protection was “woefully inadequate”.
The HSE assessed a period of 11 years between 2004 and 2015.
Aster Healthcare – £1m
This case was found against Aster Healthcare after they were found to have caused the death of an elderly care home patient. The HSE found Aster were guilty of corporate manslaughter and were ordered to pay a fine of £1m. The fine was for falsifying water temperature records when it was found that they loaded the patient into a scolding hot bath. These actions, said the judge, were just one way the company had been “cost-cutting for years”.
Enterprise Management Services – £1m
This case was brought against Enterprise Management Services after it was found to have cut corners. Their assessing of risks, which ended in the fatality of a worker, was deemed to be substandard. The worker tripped and fell under a reversing waste lorry.
This case and others that occur due to corner-cutting are sadly familiar. It goes to show that avoiding legislation has proper, real-world affects on both workers and businesses.
To ensure your business is covered for fire safety, PAT testing and more, see our Direct365 safety page here.
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