The Leading Supplier of Health & Safety Management Software Since 1996

Burden of proof lies with defence in injury cases

The House of Lords has ruled that in safety cases involving an injury the prosecution is under no duty to identify and prove specific acts or omissions, but the defence must show that it has managed the risk so far as is reasonably practicable.

Commenting on the judgement, Sarah Murray, senior associate at Stevens & Bolton LLP, said: “The burden of proof falls on any business to show that it complied with its statutory duties. With actions judged with the benefit of hindsight, the odds are therefore stacked against the business. This makes it vitally important that businesses make sure that health and safety is treated as a top priority and complied with, no matter how onerous the burden appears to be.”

Review of Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAIs) in Scotland

The Rt Hon Lord Cullen of Whitekirk KT has announced an examination into the operation of judicial inquiries into sudden, suspicious or unexplained deaths. The exercise aims to ensure that Scotland has an effective and practical system of public inquiry into deaths, which is fit for the times.

Update

The Health and Safety (Offences) Bill has received Royal Assent. The private members bill passed the final stage on the 16th October 2008 and will amend Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act to raise the maximum penalty available in the lower courts to £20,000 for most safety offences, and to make imprisonment an option for more breaches.

September 2008

User Group:
The User Group was a fantastic success with over 50 customers attending. Presentations given by the Health & Safety Laboratory on data management and Romsafe Ltd on OHSAS 18001:2007 were well recieved. The latest version of SHE enterprise, version 20 was hailed as revolutionary with its combination of user dashboards, management reports, workflow and guidance.

 

August 2008

Recruiting:
Thanks to all those who expressed an interest in working for SHE Software. We have managed to find some excellent candidates to help cope with the huge demand for our systems.

 

User Group:
The User Group will be held at the Winterhill Conference Centre, Milton Keynes on the 2nd October. Demand is extremely high for this event, if you wish to attend please contact us to confirm your place.

 

June 2008

Recruiting:
SHE Software are currently recruiting professional individuals in the following areas: Sales, Marketing and Technical Support. If you are interested in any of these roles, please forward your CV with a covering letter detailing which role you are interested in to mail@shesoftware.com

Safety & Health Expo:
We would like to thank all who came to visit us at this year's Health & Safety Expo at the NEC. The show was a great success and we look forward to welcoming visitors old and new to next year's event.

BBC:
BBC Resources have, after many years of using a customised version of our web based software, elected to move onto our standard version of SHE Enterprise. It was felt that the move away from the customised version of the system was indicative of the market in general. The configurability and flexibility of SHE Enterprise, coupled with its cost effectiveness outweighed the benefits of a customised version of the software.

 

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