Small business owners who cut corners with risk assessments could now face two years in prison under new legislation that came into force on 1 January.
The Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 gives courts the power to hold individuals responsible for injuries caused in the line of work in the same way as the Corporate Manslaughter Act of 2007 paved the way for cases involving a death.
Under the new law, business owners can be fined £20,000 and could face up to two years in prison for almost every health and safety offence.
"If you put someone at risk you can be prosecuted under the legislation," said Trevor Allan, a principal inspector at the Health and Safety Executive. "In fact, you can have a ‘near miss' with no-one hurt or killed and still end up in court."
"The 2007 act has been hugely influential in encouraging organisations to introduce comprehensive risk management strategies," said Peter Castle, marketing director at insurance broker Smart and Cook.
"The 2008 act has been introduced amid concerns among MPs that existing punishments for individuals who knowingly breach health and safety laws are too low."
Meanwhile, legal experts have warned that the Corporate Manslaughter Act - which came into force in April 2008 - will make it far easier for prosecutors to secure convictions against business owners in outbreaks of Legionnaires' diseases and building fires caused by poorly maintained ventilation.
"If, for example, fire investigators found that there were no access doors in the ductwork so making it impossible to carry out proper ventilation cleaning, then the building owner could be guilty of negligence and face prosecution," said Simon Joyston-Bechal, a partner at Pinsent Masons.
He also gave the example of a case of Legionnaires' disease in Barrow-in-Furness in 2002, where prosecutors were unable to find a "controlling mind" behind the outbreak and did not press charges against the local authority.
"The new act would make it much easier to achieve a prosecution because you would only have to show that anyone involved had control over a substantial part of the organisation's activities," he said. "This act is creating a whole new landscape for Legionnaires' disease prosecutions."
The government is currently considering imposing huge fines on organisations convicted under the act - starting at a minimum of 5% of turnover - if their negligence was proved to have resulted in the death of an employee or member of the public.
