A recent trend to bring criminal charges in occupational health
and safety matters, and an increase in the amount of corporate
fines imposed in those cases - Judgment R 12/1350 issued in August
2012 by the District Court of Central Finland
- Impact date: August 2012
In this occupational safety-related criminal case (decided by
the District Court of Central Finland in August 2012), the
prosecutor demanded that three employees in a managerial position
of a large public listed company and a representative of the
company's subcontractor should be convicted of work safety
offences and that the company itself should be sentenced to a
corporate fine of EUR 200,000.
An employee of the subcontractor had suffered burns to his upper
body from boiling water and steam due to the managements'
alleged negligence of appropriate safety instructions and
supervision. According to the prosecutor, the accident which
occurred on the company's premises resulted from
