Opinion: Safety fines are getting out of control

Grant Prior 6 years ago
Share

Galliford Try and Costain were fined £1.4m each this week after a worker lost three toes at a water treatment plant.

An accident like that is obviously horrendous and shouldn’t happen.

But fines being handed out by the courts for safety breaches are accelerating at an alarming rate.

Bigger and bigger penalties are a blunt instrument that do little to improve safety standards.

The fine money is just pumped back into the court system or the public coffers.

It’s all starting to smack more of a revenue raising exercise than a drive to boost site safety.

Why not order offenders to spend more on safety training? Or pay some of a fine to the victims and their families?

The major contractors are prime targets because their large turnovers mean they get hit with the highest fines on the multiplier used by judges.

Profitability may be a better alternative measure in a construction world where large firms exist on wafer-thin margins.

Most of the safety problems lurk at the smaller end of the industry where firms often cease trading rather than face a trial after an accident.

Health and safety is, and should always be, construction’s number one priority.

Most large sites today have world-class standards and the major players do all they can to avoid danger.

If a firm is knowingly putting workers at risk then yes – throw the book at them.

But many site accidents are just that. Companies should be punished when they happen.

But there must be more effective ways than simply hitting them with huge fines.

Latest news

Site labour rates start rising again

Industry's biggest payroll firm says "it feels like things could be turning round"
4 hours ago

Council finds extra £33m for Buckinghamshire link road

South East Aylesbury Link Road costs soar by nearly 30% to £147m
4 hours ago

Quartet win £490m North West & Central railway works deal

Skanska, Kier, Octavius Infrastructure and Story Contracting bag major projects deal
4 hours ago

Unite Students plans first major mixed-use scheme

Developer's first mixed BTR and PBSA project to be built in Edinburgh
20 hours ago

Galliford Try names new finance director

Rentokil's Kris Hampson joins contractor to replace Andrew Duxbury
5 hours ago

Council boss hits out at bat threat to £274m road job

Natural England could scupper scheme due to be built by Ferrovial
5 hours ago

Hydrogen-fuelled diggers to be allowed onto highways

Government to raise barrier to widespread use of hydrogen fuelled plant in construction
21 hours ago

Plans in for £118m Government hub in Darlington

Work pencilled to start later this year on new home for 1,450 civil servants
20 hours ago

New contractor highlights Henry Construction jobs on website

New firm lists jobs by failed contractor to show its experience
1 day ago

Contractors line up for £2.6bn Anglian Water AMP8 deal

Eight big names land places on pioneering @one Alliance
2 days ago

McAleer & Rushe bags first major later living project

Work to start this month on 167-flat Royal Tunbridge Wells project
1 day ago

Kier starts first all-electric prison houseblock job in Kent

Next-generation fully electric T60 prison houseblock to be built at HMP Elmley
1 day ago

Keepmoat sees better times ahead in housing market

Profits dip in 2023 despite construction of record number of new homes
1 day ago

Vistry signs partnership deals for 1,900 mixed tenure homes

West Sussex former airfield and Newmarket sites to break ground
2 days ago

Turnover at Wates tops £2bn for first time

Construction division exceeds £1bn turnover as average contract value hits record high of £48.3m
2 days ago

L&G looks to sell Cala Homes in exit from house building

Insurance giant reported to be preparing to offload 3,000 homes-a-year developer
3 days ago

Multiplex profit almost trebles as margin hits 5.5%

Revenue jumps 20% to £675m as big London scheme complete
2 days ago

TopHat puts plans to open huge Corby factory on hold

Advanced manufacturing facility was due to employ 1,000 people
2 days ago

Laing O’Rourke lands Calderdale hospital job

Enabling works to start by the end of this year at West Yorkshire site
2 days ago

Go-ahead for £475m Sunderland film and TV studios

Work to start this year on first phase Corwn Work studios
2 days ago

Willmott Dixon set for £20m Stockport Community Hub

Planning decision expected in June on Marple leisure and health clinic project
2 days ago

Police hunt for blundering dumper truck thief

Raider drove into a fence before getting stuck on a bank
2 days ago

Beattie Passive files administration notice

Passivhaus pioneer has been in business for more than ten years
3 days ago

McAlpine set for £50m space and tech centre

Northumbria Uni sign pre-con deal for new satellite research hub
3 days ago

VolkerFitzpatrick seals £34m Kent road viaduct

Work to start next year on Sturry Link Road near Canterbury
3 days ago

Eight win £600m Scottish civil engineering framework

Balfour, Farrans, Graham and Morgan Sindall win major works lot
3 days ago

Site engineer crushed to death by excavator

22-year-old victim died just months after graduating from university
5 days ago

NG Bailey fined £135,000 after hospital site death

Worker died after striking overhead beam while navigating a mobile elevating work platform
6 days ago

Kier lands £30m Mansfield Connect project

Construction to start in January 2025 on town centre regeneration scheme
3 days ago

Award-winning steelwork firm files administration notice

Kelpies steelwork specialist SH Structures files court notice
6 days ago

Contractor services