The Act sets out the main rules that govern workplace health and safety in the UK. It broadly covers the duty of care that employers have towards their staff, that staff have towards each other, and ensuring that the public is safe too.
Firms that break the rules or that are found to be endangering employees with poor practices can be given an unlimited fine. In some instances, guilty parties can also be imprisoned.
Recent examples of health and safety breaches and the fines that followed include:
A firm in Lancashire was fined £20,000 for failing to conduct an adequate risk assessment or putting in preventative guarding when operating machinery.
A Welsh health board was fined £160,000 for failing to carry out a risk assessment or provide suitable training.
Staffordshire Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority were fined £10,000 for not ensuring work at height training was properly planned, supervised, or carried out safely.
Crucially, these breaches show that prosecution isn’t just focused on extreme violations or where accidents are fatal; inadequate training and risk assessments are taken just as seriously.