Employee safety should never be compromised

Cutting corners in health and safety measures should never be on the agenda according to one of the region’s leading lawyers in this field.

David Thompson who is managing partner and health and safety law expert at south coast law firm Moore Blatch says that loss of life and huge financial penalties could be on the cards for companies who ignore employee safety.

Mr Thompson is a member of the Health and Safety Lawyers Association and advises and prosecutes serious and complex cases on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

His comments come as the HSE launches a new five year strategy to make Britain’s workplaces less dangerous and follows the successful HSE prosecution, advised by Moore Blatch, of Biffa Waste Services over a death at its Hartley Witney depot.

He said the death of Charles Parker at the Biffa site in 2006 highlighted that no specific risk assessment had been carried out in relation to his role in the recycling shed. 

Mr Parker was run over by a large mechanical shovel which was reversing through the area where he was working.

“There had been a risk assessment which placed the movement of vehicles and personnel as being in the highest risk category for injury as it was a potentially life threatening situation,’’ said Mr Thompson.

“However, Biffa failed to apply this to the tasks associated with Mr Parker’s role.  The police were able to recover security CCTV footage which was most damning and consequently they entered a plea of guilty at Winchester Crown Court to an offence under Section 3 of the Health & Safety At Work Act 1974.’’

The judge said that Biffa was guilty of a “serious culpable oversight” and imposed a fine of £190,000, compensation of £10,000 to be paid to Mr Parker’s widow and £50,000 towards prosecution costs.

Mr Thompson said he hoped that the new HSE campaign would focus attention onto the importance of health and safety in any organisation.

“In 2007/8, the South East witnessed 3,470 major injuries and 24 deaths, with 80 offences being prosecuted by the HSE, so this is a major issue which needs to be addressed.’’

Mr Thompson applauded the HSE calls for firms to "be part of the solution" as part of the five-year strategy to make Britain's workplaces less dangerous.