Owners risking jail over health and safety ignorance warns Bibby Consulting

A survey of 383 senior managers showed a "serious lack of awareness" said legal firm Bibby Consulting & Support. Respondents identified that breaching health and safety could lead to fines and the possibility of jail terms. However, comments displayed naivety over how penalties would be applied, according to Bibby. Comments included "consequences depend on the severity of non compliance" and owners might be subject to imprisonment "if the worst happened", Bibby revealed. Owners must "wake up and smell the coffee" warned Michael Slade, Bibby MD. "Company owners should increasingly be clear that there are serious consequences if they do not comply. They need to get rid of the old attitude of 'Yes, there's a risk but it will never happen to us." Slade quoted a recent case where a fire inspector visited a hotel in Mansfield and found it didn't have adequate fire risk assessments. Although there had been no incidents of any sort the hotel owner was fined £15,000 and put in jail for eight months. His advisor was also fined and put in prison. Proprietors who want to avoid problems must put themselves in the shoes of an HSE inspector, Slade advised. "They should be trying to see things through the eyes of a health and safety inspector who will never assume that a risk is not going to happen. In fact, they will always assume exactly the opposite, so organisations need to look at their business practices through slightly more objective eyes than they might typically do right now."