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Health, Safety & Environment |
Health & Safety
Chambers’ members defend and prosecute regularly in matters ranging from breach of H&S Regulations to fatal incidents prosecuted under sections 2, 3, 33 and 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Chambers’ members are also well placed to advise corporate and individual clients in relation to Health and Safety offences and, for example, breach of the Construction (Design Management) Regulations 2007.
Detailed medical evidence regularly plays a substantial part in H&S litigation, covering events such as falls from height, severe mechanical injuries, poisoning, behaviour and inhalation of gases and drowning. These cases often encompass a wide range of factual circumstances, which in turn demand the processing of highly technical details relating, for example, to:
- specialised safety equipment in a range of engineering environments
- production processes of dangerous chemical substances
- food production issues involving to both machinery and foodstuffs
- health and safety regimes specific to the construction industry
- deaths within agriculture
- fatalities occurring within the care sector.
Recent examples of Health & Safety work, are:
- Mark Lucraft QC – manslaughter and H&S litigation arising out of the Hatfield rail crash;
- Simon Spence QC – fire-injury from landlord’s breach of H&S regulations;
- Martyn Levett – workplace death from explosion when welding a petrol tanker;
- Andrew Marshall – permanent disability following a crush at work from a concrete slab;
- Sara Lawson – prosecuting the death of an electrician on a building site
- Richard Beynon – prosecution of Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services relating to Hatfield;
- Christopher Paxton – joint breach/manslaughter prosecution (the death arising from explosive gases/use of an explosimeter);
- Tom Forster – an Old Bailey trial arising from multiple fatalities following the collapse of a scaffold on a large construction site;
- Jacqueline Hall – death at work when trapped in a foam injection press;
- Victoria Atkins – many workplace fatalities, in energy, laundry and haulage industries, leading to fines amounting to tens of thousands of pounds; further trials relating to safety services on London Underground, an archaeological excavation, food production and the construction industry, such as falls from height and collapsed cranes and trenches.
- Ruby Hamid – defence in food hygiene trial involving densely drafted EU regulations.
We also offer a highly specialist Fire Law Service. We are regularly instructed in Fire Regulations matters, both in prosecutions for breach and for advice to specific Fire Brigades. Members with substantial recent experience in this field include Sailesh Mehta and David Claxton.
Environmental Law
Chambers environmental law team are led by Sailesh Mehta. Chambers UK credits Sailesh with the " ability to understand exactly the kind of things we, as clients, are trying to accomplish." He is largely recognised for his prosecution work, especially in connection with waste issues, and the more complex environmental cases.
Members of the team regularly receive instructions in Environmental Law matters, in particular from the Environment Agency concerning potential or commenced prosecutions. Tenants have also advised and represented well-known companies in environmental cases. Recent matters have included:
- waste dumping on a large scale by many defendants (along with related money laundering activity).
- trans-frontier shipment of waste from the UK to China and India
- prosecutions arising from the European Waste Packaging Regulations
Members regularly advise the Environment Agency more generally on key aspects of policy and law. We have held major seminars with the Agency, including on such matters as sentencing in environmental law cases and disclosure training.
07.11.2011
Ruby Hamid, for the Environment Agency, achieves conviction for tyre dumping on national scale. More...
23.04.2011
Andrew Marshall leading Tom Payne and Hannah Willcocks in Operation Victor: DEFRA investigation into the long-term illegal importation and sale of unauthorised veterinary medicines on a massive scale. More...
08.04.2011
Andrew Marshall led Gillian Jones and Dara Islam in this trial arising from the infiltration of counterfeit medicine into the UK legitimate supply chain during a five-month period in 2007. More...
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