Councils across the UK fined more than £10m for breaching health and safety rules

Councils across the UK have been fined more than £10million for breaking health and safety rules since the start of the decade, a GB News audit can reveal.

The People's Channel examined Health and Safety Executive data and uncovered that 36 breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 have been recorded from the beginning of 2020 until April, totalling £11,406,107 in costs to the various councils.

The single largest fine was given to Cambridgeshire County Council last year, after they were charged with multiple safety breaches following the death of three people on the world’s longest guided busway.

The council was fined £6million after Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir, and Kathleen Pitts died following collisions on the Cambridgeshire busway between 2015 and 2021.

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The council was charged in April last year and ordered to pay the fine over three years.

East Dunbartonshire Council committed the most breaches within the time frame, breaching five separate offences, with the total fines coming to £49,333.

The council was charged last year after a carbon monoxide leak was found within one of their schools.

They were also charged with four separate breaches on the same day in 2024, for violating the control of lead at work regulations.

Newport City Council in Wales was also handed a £2million fine after a tractor killed one of their workers.

Stephen Bell, 57, was resurfacing Langstone Court Road, Newport, from the back of a tipper lorry on July 18, 2019.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the council did not take all reasonably practicable steps to organise a safe working environment.

The most recent conviction came earlier this year, in April, when Bassetlaw District Council was fined £50,000 after a workplace accident left a grounds maintenance worker with serious injuries at a churchyard.

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The worker was operating a ride-on lawnmower when the machine slid down a steep embankment towards a retaining wall, causing both the operator and the equipment to tumble approximately 2.3 metres onto the pavement and road below.

Another repeat offender was Plymouth City Council, who were charged over four different breaches in 2023.

The council was found to have failed to protect employees from overexposure to vibration, leading to hand and wrist injuries for six staff.

The HSE said two employees developed hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), while four were diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Another recent case saw Western Isles Council fined £80,000 after the death of a patient who went missing from a care home on the Isle of Barra.

The patient was able to leave the care home in the early hours without the knowledge of staff, who were unable to locate him until four hours later. He died shortly afterwards in hospital.

An HSE spokesman told GB News: "Britain remains one of the safest countries in the world to work in.

"But when those responsible for health and safety fail to protect people, we will take action, which includes using our powers to prosecute."

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