Health & Safety
Many 12KBW barristers have considerable expertise in the field of health and safety, representing both corporate and individual defendants in criminal prosecutions. Our barristers frequently act on behalf of families and other interested persons at inquests when HSE or local authority prosecutions arising out of the death are likely, as well as dealing with civil claims arising from health and safety breaches.
In workplace accident prosecutions in particular, clients benefit from being represented by a personal injury specialist barrister, who is an expert in the operation of the applicable regulatory framework. In contrast to many criminal practitioners, our health and safety barristers can often identify important legal points arising from the relevant statutory provisions, which can be critical to a successful defence or mitigation. Some of our health and safety barristers also have judicial experience of sitting in crime.
Recent cases undertaken by our barristers include:
- acting for a defendant accused of gross negligence manslaughter
- defending companies and employees in high profile health and safety prosecutions
- acting for a children’s home in what is believed to be the first prosecution brought by the Welsh Government pursuant to Welsh specific regulations.
