The Chief Coroner has issued guidance to assist coroners during the Covid-19 pandemic. Chief Coroner’s Guidance No.37 deals with Covid-19 deaths and possible exposure in the workplace. It has attracted adverse publicity from some quarters suggesting that families will be denied…
The Health and Safety executive (HSE) has recently provided guidance of how and when organisations should report coronavirus incidents under the Reporting Requirements under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). RIDDOR The RIDDOR scheme is well known to all organisations who are required to comply with obligations under the health and safety legislation. The…
In previous briefings, we have reported on the level of fines following prosecutions by the police, HSE and CQC. Each prosecutor has its own jurisdiction, although a Memorandum of Understanding between the HSE and CQC means that CQC now take…
What general factors will the CQC, HSE, the police and other regulator prosectors consider when contemplating charging an organisation or individual? The CQC and other bodies who have power to prosecute follow guidance issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions under…
Yesterday, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust was fined £2 million at Oxford Crown Court for two offences under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The charges arose from the deaths of two vulnerable patients. The…
Miller v Health Service Commissioner for England: 2018 EWCA Civ 144 Factual background A patient’s widow complained to the Health Service Commissioner for England (HSCE) regarding care provided to her late husband by one of two GPs. HSCE requested copies of the patient’s…
Dental practitioners have long been subject to regulation in relation to the maintenance and use of their x-ray equipment, but a new regulatory regime is shortly to come into force. This results from an EC directive, but as the UK…
Many company directors may not be aware that they have potential personal liability for health and safety breaches. Health and Safety at Work Act Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 provides that where a body corporate commits…
On 12 October 2017 at Basingstoke Magistrates Court District, Judge Loraine Morgan sentenced Southern Health NHS Trust in relation to a CQC prosecution for an offence under Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations…
Many care home operators may not be aware that their local fire authority has the power to prosecute for breaches of fire regulations. There seems to have been a recent increase in such activity by fire authorities and the latest…
