 Photo booth operator Photo-Me has been ordered to pay over £100,000 in what is thought to be the highest total penalty ever awarded for a case brought under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The breaches of COSHH were associated with a custom and practice whereby employees received bonus payments for accepting deliveries of photographic chemicals at home. The chemicals were then used for maintaining the company’s network of automatic photo booths across the country.
It became routine for the chemicals to be mixed at home, or in supermarket washrooms, and even in company cars. A suitable and sufficient COSHH assessments had not been done, and no safe system of work had been established. Bristol Crown Court heavily criticised Photo-Me’s “woefully inadequate procedures”, which were inexcusable for a company with a turnover of £236m and a workforce that included 230 field-based people.
If your COSHH arrangements stop at obtaining safety data sheets and you need advice on how to comply with the regulations, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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This long-awaited Bill has been introduced in an attempt to enable the courts to penalise organisations whose actions lead to the death of any person. Where senior managers have collectively demonstrated gross negligence, e.g. by failing to ensure safe systems of work, they can be found guilty of the new offence. The final Act is not expected until 2007. 
Changes are due to come into force in England in 2007. The Welsh Assembly plans to have a ban in place by April 2007, as does Northern Ireland. The Smoke-free (General Provisions) Regulations and the Smoke-free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations will both be made under the Health Bill presently going through Parliament. 
The new asbestos regulations came into operation in November, along with two Approved Codes of Practice. Known as the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, the new legislation combines the present Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 and the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983. 
BUPA has been fined £90,000 with £20,000 costs after a client died in hospital from pneumonia. 
The Co-Operative Wholesale Society appeared at Eastbourne Magistrates’ Court after what was described as a catalogue of failures at its Heathfield, Sussex, branch. A senior Environmental Health Officer attended the store after a report of an injury to a female worker who tripped over, and found various legal contraventions. The emergency route leading to the fire exit was obstructed by stock. Other failings included an absence of induction training and non-compliance with the company’s own inspection procedures. 
Carillion Rail is a contractor who have previously been awarded an estimated £300m worth of business associated with railway maintenance contracts. The firm has now been told by Network Rail that it cannot bid for any new work because of its poor safety record. According to statistics monitored by Network Rail, an employee of Carillion is on average twice as likely to be injured at work than someone employed by other railway contracting companies.