LAWR

HEALTH & SAFETY New Year, new rules: A look at H&S laws If you blinked you may have missed the announcement made by the Sentencing Council, last year, over its new guidelines assisting sentencers dealing with corporate manslaughter and health and safety. It gained some media coverage but not a lot. LAWR explores this issue further. Waste and recycling is a high-risk industry. Official figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that there were four fatalities in the sector in 2013/14, compared with an average of nine over the previous five years. (2008/09-2012/13). Under tougher sentencing guidelines proposed last November by the Sentencing Council, large firms convicted of corporate manslaughter could face fines of up to £20m. The Sentencing Council announced that the review of guidelines was taking place in part due to concerns that some sentences imposed for these offences have been too low, particularly in rela- tion to large organisations convicted of the most serious health and safety and food safety offences. In 2013/14 in the UK, 133 people were killed at work and 70 members of the public fatally injured in accidents connected to work, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, to date, there have been only eight convictions for corporate manslaughter in England and Wales since the legislation was introduced in 2007. The largest fine issued thus far was hand- ed down last year when waste management company Sterecycle was found guilty of corporate manslaughter and fined £500,000 following the death of an employee. Michael Whinfrey, 42, died at Sterecycle's Rotherham plant fol- lowing an explosion in January 2011. The Rotherham-based firm is currently in liquidation. Given the fact that £500,000 is the biggest fine handed out so far, it is evident that the proposals from the Sentencing Council to sub- stantially increase the fines are set to shake things up and ensure that companies start to take health and safety more seriously. February 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 13 BOa: The green way of recycling! energy savings? BOa ecOline Impress baler Our impress baler's, M and D Series, can be delivered with steel wire tying and PP twine tying, combined on one machine. Boa Recycling Program We develop and deliver among other: • Balers (Impress®, Continette, Baseline) • Bag openers • Shredders • reel Splitters • conveyors The BOA BAler Type ecOline cAn reduce pOwer cOnsumpTiOn By up TO 60%. BOa recycling equiPMenT BV T +31 (0) 534 300 300 e infO@BOarecycling.nl www.BoaRecyclIng.com

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