Following the announcement of the fines of £400,000 imposed on ICL Plastics Ltd and ICL Tech Limited following their guilty plea to health and safety breaches Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary said
“ No level of fine can adequately reflect the loss that these families have suffered. Our justice system appears to be totally inflexible in the sentences that judges can impose following breaches of health and safety legislation”.
“We believe that financial penalties should be allowed to be utilised, in part, to ensure that the health and safety failures that, in this case were allowed to develop over an unacceptable period of time are addressed”.
“As it stands at the moment this would require changes in legislation to introduce a system where companies could be placed on corporate probation and the STUC, in light of this tragedy, would call on the Westminster Government to re-examine sentencing options for health and safety offences”.
“This should include meeting its commitment in the revitalising Health and Safety strategy to hold individual directors individually liable for the health and safety failures of their companies”.
“The thoughts of the STUC continue to be with the families and we will continue to support them in their call for a wide public inquiry that can provide the answers to the increasing number of questions which face the families”.