The HSE has released details of the latest companies convicted of health and safety breaches, among them BASF Coatings, Nottingham Flexo, James Cropper, Wrapid Packaging Systems and Visual Packaging from the print and paper industries.

Cumbrian papermaker James Cropper was fined 15,000 for a fatal scalding accident, while Nottingham Flexo was fined 750 for its failure to maintain an interlock guard.

BASF Coatings was fined a total of 8,000 for two breaches of health and safety regulations, although the details of the cases were not disclosed.

HSE director general Timothy Walker said he found it incomprehensible that companies that broke financial rules should face fines up to six times higher than those for health and safety offences, which could involve loss of life or limbs.

According to the HSE, the average penalty is around 9,000 per case and less than 30,000 for fatalities.

For breaking financial services rules, the average fine among FTSE-350 companies was 967,000, it said.

Walker said there had been no significant changes in fines over the past five years, even though the Court of Appeal had said they were too low.

Recent health and safety fines

CompanyTotal fineOffence
James Cropper15,000Fatal scalding accident
Nottingham Flexo750Failure to maintain interlock guard
BASF Coatings 8,000Not available
Wrapid Packaging 3,000Injury while operating bag machine
Visual Packaging3,000Employee injured while driving a fork-lift truck, untrained

Story by Andy Scott