Fining very large organisations

Money iStock 000008683901XSmall 146x219A major domestic appliances manufacturer has successfully appealed the amount of a fine for breaching health and safety laws. Claire Booth examines the Court of Appeal's ruling.

In Whirlpool UK Appliances Ltd v R [2017] EWCA Crim 2186 (CA) Whirlpool (WUKA) appealed against a sentence of a £700,000 fine after it pleaded guilty to an offence contrary to s.3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The case resulted from the death of a contractor, D, at one of WUKA's factories. D had been working on the fire and heat detector systems from a mobile elevated working platform which he had manoeuvred into position between hanging baskets on the overhead conveyor system. The overhead conveyor system was set in motion by a WUKA employee who was working elsewhere on the conveyor, causing the working platform to topple and D to fall. WUKA was a "very large organisation" for the purposes of the Definitive Guideline on Corporate Manslaughter, Health and Safety and Food and Safety Hygiene Offences ("the Guideline").

The court considered three issues:

  1. The impact of a death on the approach to the ranges set out in the Guideline;
  2. How one identifies and then treats a "very large organisation" for the purposes of the Guideline; and
  3. The impact of relatively poor profitability in the context of an organisation with a substantial turnover.

The court held, allowing the appeal, that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive. The circumstances of this case were unusual in flowing from an offence of low culpability and low likelihood of harm. Having regard to the underlying culpability, risk of harm, actual harm and turnover, a starting point of £450,000 at Step Three was sufficient to have a real economic impact which would bring home to the management and shareholders the need to comply with health and safety legislation but was also proportionate to WUKA's overall means. This was an organisation with an impeccable safety record which had done everything possible to make good the deficiencies exposed by these events.

The court then reduced the fine by a third to reflect the guilty plea. It quashed the fine of £700,000 and substituted one of £300,000.

Claire Booth is an associate professional support lawyer at Bevan Brittan. She can be contacted on 0370 194 1705 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..