A serious workplace incident triggers several processes at once — an enforcement investigation, an insurer, possibly the police — while you are still trying to keep operating and support those affected. What you do early shapes everything that follows.
The immediate steps
- Make the area safe and attend to anyone injured.
- Comply with your reporting obligations — serious incidents must be reported to the relevant authority within set timescales.
- Preserve evidence: the scene, equipment, records, CCTV.
- Take advice before anyone gives a formal account.
Be careful with internal investigations
The instinct to investigate internally is understandable, but an internal report written without thought about legal privilege can become the enforcement body’s best evidence against you. How and by whom an internal investigation is conducted matters enormously, and it is worth a conversation before you begin one.
How fines are calculated
Sentencing for health and safety offences is based on the seriousness of the breach and — critically — the turnover of the organisation. This means fines for larger businesses can run well into six figures or beyond, and the calculation is far less dependent on whether anyone was actually harmed than most people expect. The risk created is what matters.
Personal liability for directors
Directors can be personally liable where an offence is committed with their consent or connivance, or is attributable to their neglect. Custodial sentences and director disqualification are both possible. Because the interests of individual directors and the company can diverge, separate advice is sometimes needed from the outset.
Interview under caution
Enforcement bodies conduct interviews under caution, which carry the same seriousness as a police interview. Preparation is essential, and it is not a conversation to walk into unadvised — what is said becomes evidence in any prosecution that follows.