Our Environmental, Safety & Health team is pleased to share with you the latest edition of our monthly newsletter, frESH Law Horizons: Key Developments in UK & EU Environment, Safety and Health Law and Procedure; providing bite-size updates on EU and UK law, procedure and policy. The updates covered in this month’s edition include (among … Continue Reading
On 19 August, the sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Johnson were published in relation to the recent £90 million fine issued to Southern Water for sewage pollution. The remarks provide a full breakdown and description of how this record fine was calculated, and provide comments and conclusions on a number of issues that are likely … Continue Reading
A recent prosecution by the Environment Agency, where a company was ordered to pay £327,000, has highlighted potentially difficult issues for businesses in complying with the statutory waste duty of care. What is the Statutory Waste Duty of Care? All businesses generate waste of some description: from paper and kitchen waste in offices, to hazardous … Continue Reading
Recent caselaw demonstrates that regulators are prepared to prosecute landlords as a direct result of their tenants’ unlawful waste operations. Landlords should consider this possibility when negotiating with prospective tenants and put in place reasonable safeguards to protect themselves. However, victims of fly-tipping may potentially face a similar risk of prosecution against which such safeguards … Continue Reading
The recent Court of Appeal decision in R v Powell and Westwood contains an interesting insight into the extent to which company directors may find themselves personally liable for the cost of remediating contamination which has been caused or knowingly permitted by the companies that they control. It has confirmed that the corporate veil should … Continue Reading
The record fine of £1m recently handed down to Thames Water Utilities Limited is further evidence (if any were needed) that the Courts are willing impose extremely tough penalties on very large organisations found to have breached environmental regulations. Background Thames Water has an environmental permit to discharge treated sewage from Tring Sewage Treatment Works into … Continue Reading
As England and Wales gear up for the new sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences coming into force on 1 February 2016 – which will drastically change the way health and safety offences are sentenced – companies should also be aware of a new, related legislative development. On 10 December 2015, a new Allocation Definitive Guideline was published that will affect … Continue Reading
The recent, tragic case of a four year old boy who was killed in a shop when a freestanding mirror fell on him has once again underlined that very large companies can expect to receive very large fines for breaches of health and safety legislation. Following the death, the shop owner, Hugo Boss (UK) Limited, … Continue Reading
Following a recent Court of Appeal case, very large companies who are involved in cases of serious environmental crime (i.e. cases of Category 1 harm where the cause is deliberate) could face fines of up to 100% of the company’s pre-tax net profits – even if this results in fines of £100+ million. On the … Continue Reading
The long awaited Section 85 of The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (the “Act”), which removes the fine limits that Magistrates’ Courts can impose for serious offences, came into force on 12 March 2015, meaning that for certain serious offences committed on or after 12 March 2015, the Magistrates Court can … Continue Reading
Although sentencing guidelines currently exist in relation to corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences resulting in a death, there are no current guidelines to the UK courts in relation to sentencing non-fatal health and safety offences or food safety offences. The guidelines, produced by the Sentencing Council (SC), are intended to fill that gap … Continue Reading
It has been widely reported in the UK that maximum fines available to magistrates will soon increase fourfold; and that the lower courts will also be able to levy unlimited fines for some offences in England and Wales. The greatest attention in the popular press has probably been on the impact these powers will have … Continue Reading
The recent decision in R v Southern Water Services Limited (2014) has seen the Court of Appeal take a very firm stance against a utilities provider, upholding a fine of £200,000 following a conviction under regulation 38 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (the ‘2010 Regulations’) for discharging untreated sewage into the … Continue Reading
There has long been a concern about the lack of guidance available to the courts in the UK (especially, magistrates’ courts) when it comes to sentencing for environmental offences, in comparison to other crimes (such as theft or assault). This has meant that similar examples of environmental wrongdoing have received greatly varying levels of fines … Continue Reading