Health and safety fines up by 40%

BP, London Underground and Corus were among the UK's biggest companies convicted of health and safety offences last year, with fines rising by nearly 40%.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report, Health and safety offences and penalties 2001-2002, published in November, identifies nearly 900 companies, organisations and individuals convicted by the HSE during 2001-02.

The report says fines for workplace health and safety offences jumped by 39% between 2000-01 and 2001-02. The average fine for health and safety cases was £12,194, up from the previous year's average of £8,790.

The HSE brought 1,064 prosecutions to court, with an 84% conviction rate. The total fines reached £10 million, an increase of over £2 million compared to last year. The HSE also issued over 11,000 improvement and prohibition notices.

Research published in Labour Research in November analysed the worst companies convicted and fined for health and safety offences. A list of shame was also published in LRD's Fact Service in November.

The HSE report is available on www.hse.gov.uk/action/content/off01-02.pdf or free from HSE Books. Full details of convictions can be found on the HSE database at www.hse-databases.co.uk/prosecutions