May 29, 2018

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Safety & Health Expo 2018

Exploring what harsher sentencing guidelines mean for individuals

A panel of expert specialist health and safety defence lawyers will break down the increasing severity of the health and safety prosecution of individuals on the second morning of the Safety & Health Expo 2018.

Individuals found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter are anticipated to be given a starting point sentence of eight years in jail from December 2018, a significant increase putting greater pressure on those tried independently of their organisation.

simon joyston-bechalDr Simon Joyston-Bechal, Director at Turnstone Law, will Chair the debate, which also features Michael Applebey, Health, Safety and Environment Lawyer at Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP, and Kizzy Augustin, Partner at Russell-Cooke. SHP Online spoke to Dr Joyston-Bechal to find out more about what visitors can expect from the session.

“Everyone is aware that in the last couple of years health & safety punishments have become more severe and there has been a focus on the increased fines for companies based on turnover,” says Dr Joyston-Bechal.

“But this panel session is designed to shine a light on one of the more significant things that has changed in the last couple of years and is set to change further, and that is an extremely draconian change to the way that individuals are sentenced in the event that they are convicted in a personal capacity of H&S criminal offences.

“We’ll cover various aspects about how individuals can be held to account, what has changed and what is going to change. We are particularly worried about some changes that are likely to be coming in from this December, which will mean that the starting expectation for anyone convicted of gross negligence manslaughter is an eight-year-jail sentence. This is a dramatic change from the existing position.

“People might be aware that in serious cases they could be fined or sent to jail. But what they haven’t necessarily appreciated is that even for mainstream health and safety offences, the sentencing guidelines that came in at the beginning of 2016 mean that prison sentences are much more likely to be handed down for any given breach by an individual.”

The session will explain what is expected of individuals, the reduced thresholds for imprisonment and will go through some recent cases, as well as providing practical tips to staying out of jail.

Turnstone Law, in partnership with 2 Hare Court, will also be hosting a Legal Clinic on all three days of the Safety & Health Expo (Stand S120). The Clinic will host a daily lunchtime General Q&A session where attendees can ask questions on any issue of concern and get involved in debate, while each morning and afternoon legal experts will give interesting seminars on topical legal issues.

The ‘Health and Safety prosecution of individuals’ panel session kicks off the action at the Keynote Theatre on Wednesday 20 June at 10.30.

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Nigel Dupree
Nigel Dupree
5 years ago

Mmmm, I don’t suppose for one minute that the overall Global burden on health and productivity founded in historic omissions to address sub-optimal DSE ergonomics, glossed over in the UK as ‘temporary’ yet, lasting up to three hours or more after coming off-screen putting workers at increased risk of spatial misjudgments and mishaps after work, will be on the agenda although, in terms of future risk, when the no-win no-fee boys move on from workplace deafness claims following the retrospective findings of the appeal court in Baker V Quantum Clothing and others 2011 to disability arising from eye-strain / Asthenopia… Read more »