Penalties for health and safety infringements have historically
been lower in Northern Ireland than for the UK as a whole. But this
is changing in recent times – and local organisations must be
more conscious of safety management than ever before.
It is well known that employers are subject to stringent
legislation to take all "reasonably practicable" steps to
ensure the health and safety at work of employees and third parties
that may be affected by the undertaking. Breach of the legislation
is a criminal offence, attracting the potential for unlimited fines
in the more serious of cases. There are also offences that can be
committed by employees, managers and directors of companies that
attract fines or, perhaps more importantly, prison sentences.
Indeed an SHP article from earlier this year indicated that there
has been a 400% increase in enforcement action taken against
individuals in the last five years. Northern Ireland may be behind
the curve but this national
