Prosecutions
following Dangerous Occurences and industrial Diseases
and prosecutions of individiduals
Prosecutions following Dangerous Occurrences
Table 15 shows that the number of dangerous occurrences
that result in prosecution are very small – 5%
at its highest. It also shows that although the percentage
of dangerous occurrences resulting in prosecution has
increased over the three year period, this was only
by 1.3%.
Table 15
Numbers of investigated dangerous occurrences between
1996/97 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution
|
Nos
Inv |
Nos
Pros |
%
Pros |
Nos
Conv |
| 1996/7 |
925 |
27 |
3% |
27 |
| 1997/8 |
973 |
46 |
5% |
45 |
| 1998/9 |
927 |
39 |
4% |
38 |
Table
16 show that the level of prosecution following investigated
dangerous occurrences is low in every industry, but
there are still some big differences between them -
from 8% (19 out 239) in Construction to 1% (1 out of
116) in the Energy/Extractive sector.
Table 16
Numbers of investigated dangerous occurrences in 1998/9
that resulted in prosecution, by industry
|
Nos
Inv |
Nos
Pros |
%
Pros |
Nos
Conv |
| Construction |
239 |
19 |
8% |
19 |
| Agriculture |
15 |
1 |
7% |
1 |
| Manufacturing |
305 |
12 |
4% |
12 |
| Service
Sector |
250 |
6 |
2% |
5 |
| Energy/Extractive |
116 |
1 |
1% |
1 |
Table
17 concerns the level of prosecutions following dangerous
occurrences in 1998/9 by HSE area. It shows that there
are still some significant differences between the
HSE Areas. Whilst in the North West, 14% of investigated
dangerous occurrences (6 out of 42) resulted in prosecution,
none of the 79 investigated dangerous occurrences
in the South West and none of the 45 in the Northern
Home Counties resulted in a prosecution.
Table 17
Numbers of investigated dangerous occurrences in 1998/9
that resulted in prosecution by HSE area
|
|
Nos
Inv
|
Nos
Pros
|
%
Pros
|
|
North
West
|
42
|
6
|
14%
|
|
Greater
Manchester
|
29
|
3
|
10%
|
|
West
Midlands
|
26
|
2
|
8%
|
|
North
Midlands
|
60
|
4
|
7%
|
|
Merseyside
|
47
|
3
|
6%
|
|
Greater
London
|
42
|
2
|
5%
|
|
East
Midlands
|
39
|
2
|
5%
|
|
Wales
|
42
|
2
|
5%
|
|
North
East
|
44
|
2
|
5%
|
|
Scotland
East
|
55
|
3
|
6%
|
|
South
East
|
45
|
2
|
4%
|
|
South
|
60
|
2
|
3%
|
|
South
Yorkshire
|
38
|
1
|
3%
|
|
N
& W Yorkshire
|
69
|
2
|
3%
|
|
East
Anglia
|
60
|
1
|
2%
|
|
Marches
|
60
|
1
|
2%
|
|
Scotland
West
|
45
|
1
|
2%
|
|
South
West
|
79
|
0
|
-
|
|
N/thn
Home Counties
|
45
|
0
|
-
|
Prosecutions following Industrial Disease
Less than 1% of investigated reports of industrial
diseases resulted in prosecutions. Table 18 shows
that over the three year period only 13 of the 1404
investigated ill health incidents investigated resulted
in prosecution.
Table 18
Numbers of investigated industrial diseases between
1996/97 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution
|
Nos
Inv
|
Nos
Pros
|
%
Pros
|
| 1996/7 |
397
|
4
|
1.0%
|
| 1997/8 |
486
|
2
|
0.4%
|
| 1998/9 |
521
|
7
|
1.3%
|
Prosecutions against Individuals
Individuals can be prosecuted in three main ways
| • |
if
the employer is a partnership or a sole trader:
since the employer is an individual, when the
employer is prosecuted, the individual partners
or sole trader will be prosecuted. |
| • |
if
the employer is a company: Section 37 of the Health
and Safety at Work Act allows company directors
or senior managers of a company to be prosecuted
if it can be shown that an offence committed by
the company, was committed with their consent
or connivance or was attributable to their neglect. |
| •
|
employees:
any employee can be prosecuted for breach of section
7 of the HASAW. This can include a shop floor
worker or a manager. |
The tables below only concern breaches of section
37 and 7. Table 19 shows that prosecutions relating
to section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act
1974 are few and far between (34 in three years) and
that there has only been a very minor increase over
the three year period. It also shows that very few
directors/senior managers are prosecuted following
deaths and major injuries.
Table 19
Numbers of Prosecutions involving Section 37 of the
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
|
Nos
Pros
|
Nos
Conv
|
Pros
from Deaths
|
Pros
from Major injuries
|
| 1996/7 |
11
|
10
|
4
|
2
|
| 1997/8 |
11
|
11
|
2
|
2
|
| 1998/9 |
12
|
12
|
3
|
0
|
Table 20 concerns prosecutions for breaches of section
7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It is
not known how many of these prosecutions concern ‘shop
floor workers’ or ‘managers’ so it
is difficult to come to any particular conclusion
about the level of prosecutions below. The table shows
that section 7 prosecutions are just slightly more
frequent than section 37 prosecution – though
only 1 in the three year period concerned a death.
Table 20
Numbers of Prosecutions involving Section 7 of the
Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974
|
Nos
Pros
|
Nos
Conv
|
Pros
from Deaths
|
Pros
from Major injuries
|
| 1996/7 |
14
|
14
|
0
|
5
|
| 1997/8 |
10
|
10
|
0
|
2
|
| 1998/9 |
14
|
14
|
1
|
6
|
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