News & Events
News & Events
Fiona Horlick acted for Harlow District Council in their prosecution of G4S Cash Solutions Ltd for serious breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. G4S were sentenced on 2nd September 2016 at Chelmsford Crown Court. The Judge found a ‘flagrant breach of the law’ following G4S’s persistent failure over a number of years to protect its staff and visitors from the risk of exposure to legionella bacteria which carries a risk of death from Legionnaires Disease. G4S, a company with a turnover of £250 million, were fined a total of £1.8m and ordered to pay all the prosecution costs. The Judge, in applying the new sentencing guidelines, found very high culpability coupled with a statistically low risk…
News 7 Sep, 2016
Tim updates Lawyer Monthly on the UK Health & Safety regulatory developments where he points out that the recent introduction of the new sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences represents the principal change. Its main effect “has been a dramatic increase in financial penalties by around tenfold for large companies, and a much greater risk of imprisonment for negligent company officers”. Both the HSE and companies’ compliance officers have a pro-active reaction to the new regulations, Tim states. He also advises companies under investigation to prepare their defence as early as possible. Please click here for the full interview where many more key-points are discussed in greater detail. For many years Tim has been recognised by the Chambers &…
External Publications 28 Jul, 2016
Tim Green was recently instructed by the HSE in a precedent setting use of the Control of Major Hazard Regulations (“COMAH”) arising out of the inadvertent ignition of the rocket motor charge by Roxel Motor Limited. The defendant company admitted breaching s2 and 3 HSWA1974 when a technician examining a rocket charge with very hot borescope accidentally ignited the charge in the presence of 2 other technicians. The fire lasted around 10 seconds and burned at temperatures around 450 degrees. Other rocket charges were in the same room and an open rocket propellant store left open an adjacent room. Roxel’s emergency response to this major accident was inadequate leading to the first ever prosecution under Regulation 12 of COMAH for…
News 8 Jul, 2016
Ben Compton QC and Paul Rogers defend South Lakes Safari Zoo Limited and David Gill, its sole director, in the tiger killing case involving a 24 year old zoo handler, Sarah McClay. Both company and director originally faced a 14 count indictment alleging widespread systemic failures in relation to the running of the tiger house. However, following successful negotiations, the prosecution agreed to drop all counts (seven in total) including four s.37 allegations against David Gill and the company pleaded on a prepared and limited basis to a section 2 and 3 offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The section 2 offence concerned failings in the zoo’s risk assessment to have a suitable and sufficient maintenance…
News 14 Jun, 2016
Tim Green has appeared for the HSE in a complex investigation into unsafe excavations in Holbeach, Lincolnshire. Following a three week trial, including expert evidence and multiple rulings on the law before HHJ Pini QC, John Henry and Sons (Civil Engineers) Ltd were convicted by a unanimous verdict of breach of section 3 (1) HSWA. John Henry and Sons will be sentenced with their corporate co-defendants on 10 October. Since his appointment to the Attorney General’s A Panel of approved regulatory advocates in 2013, Tim has appeared in over 20 cases arising from death or serious injury at work. He is an expert in the criminal liability of companies, their directors, what steps are reasonably practicable for a business to take to…
News 23 May, 2016
Tim Green appeared for the Environment Agency in a successful high profile investigation into waste crime committed by companies, their directors and managers heard at Hereford Crown Court over 4 days between 15 to 18 February 2016. Tim is recognised as one of the UK’s leaders in environmental law and is regularly instructed by companies, their officers, private prosecutors and regulators in respect of complex and sensitive environmental enforcement activity.
News 1 Mar, 2016
Tim Green considers the penalties imposed for Health & Safety offences, against those for financial misconduct in ‘The Lawyer Monthly’. According to his article in ‘The Lawyer Monthly’, Tim believes that ‘With the coming into force on 1 February 2016 of the Sentencing Council Guidelines for health and safety offences and corporate manslaughter, the financial penalties for companies with a turnover of £50m+ which are convicted of serious health and safety offences will increase from around £250,000 to over £2.5m.’ Tim is a member of both the health and safety and financial services groups at Outer Temple Chambers, both of which are highly recommended by the recent editions of the legal directories.
News 5 Jan, 2016
This article provides a general commentary upon important changes to environmental law. This article was first published on Lexis®PSL Environment on 13 November 2015.
External Publications 17 Nov, 2015
Ben Compton QC has been awarded the accolade of Health & Safety Silk of the Year 2015 at yesterday’s Chambers & Partners Bar Awards. He was nominated in this category last year so this year’s success is a tribute to his expertise and commitment to the field of Health & Safety.
News 28 Oct, 2015
Tim Green and James Leonard today addressed 50 members of the Health & Safety Lawyers Association (HSLA) in the third successive collaboration between the HSLA and Outer Temple Chambers since February 2015. Tim discussed how defence lawyers might be best prepared to take advantage of a significant rise in the number of private prosecutions whilst James reviewed the law, procedural rules, case law and best practice in costs awards. As with previous OTC/HSLA seminars in Bristol and Manchester, both seminars were well received and followed by drinks generously provided by DAC Beachcroft. Outer Temple Chambers has been consistently ranked as one of England’s leading sets of chambers for Health & Safety work and is committed to spreading best practice in health and safety law and procedure.
News 7 Oct, 2015
The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010 led the European Commission to review the safety of offshore oil and gas activities. Three years later it published the Directive on Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations (OSD). On 19 July 2015 amended regulations – the Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc) Regulations 2015 – came into force, which are seen as the ‘key to the management of offshore health and safety and environmental major hazards’. Richard Lissack QC & Fiona Horlick have identified and analysed the main points of the 2015 regulations in an article written for the New Law Journal. The article can be found here through the NLJ website.
News 30 Sep, 2015
On 19 December 2014 at Warwick Crown Court European Metal Recycling Ltd (“the company”) was sentenced to a fine of £150,000 and ordered to pay £88,000 costs following a breach of s3 (2) HSWA at their Kingsbury recycling site in Warwickshire. The company were represented by John Cooper QC and Eversheds solicitors. Tim Green was instructed by the HSE in a long and complex investigation. The prosecution followed the death of a “burner” in October 2012 whilst burning scrap metal barges boats for recycling. Tim showed the court the sub-contractor should not have been approved to work for the company because of obvious weaknesses in its method statement for cutting large size scrap metal. The sentencing Judge agreed the breach…
News 5 Jan, 2015
