Last year, some big health and safety fines were issued, with three of the fines making it onto the list for the highest HSE penalties of all time. This year sees the biggest HSE fine on record - we examine the largest penalties of 2025.
While it is encouraging that companies that breach regulations meet serious consequences, it is also alarming that breaches warrant such large penalties. There has been an upward trend in the highest health and safety fines in recent years, with the biggest fine in 2022 being over double the highest fine in 2020.
However, the largest penalty in 2023 broke this trend. Ideally, the number of fines issued year on year would decrease. That being said, 2025 has seen the largest penalty issued by the HSE at £6 million. Health and safety training helps companies avoid workplace accidents and the large penalties that come with them.
According to the most recent HSE statistics, falls from height remain the biggest reason for fatal accidents among UK workers. This, together with being struck by a moving vehicle, accounts for around 70% of all fatal workplace injuries in 2023/2024.
Construction is still the most dangerous industry in terms of health and safety, with the largest number of deaths attributed to this industry.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics show that in 2023/2024:
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We have examined the UK's biggest health and safety fines over the past few years to help you understand how to avoid making the same simple mistakes.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 Section 3(1)
Cambridgeshire County Council has been fined £6 million, plus nearly £300,000 in costs, after admitting multiple safety failings on its Guided Busway. Since opening in 2011, the busway has been linked to three deaths and several serious injuries, including children hurt at crossing points.
Investigators from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the council failed to install basic safety measures such as proper lighting, separation between paths and buses, speed controls, and clear warning signs.
Despite a fatality in 2015, the council delayed carrying out a risk assessment until 2016 and even then, it overlooked key dangers. Instead of acting on the HSE's enforcement notices, the council appealed them, during which time more incidents occurred.
The HSE described the failings as "completely preventable," saying the tragedy could have been avoided with simple, common safety precautions.
Work at Height Regulations 2005 Regulation 6(3)
British Airways was fined over £3 million after two employees suffered serious injuries while working at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The incidents involved falls from height while unloading baggage via televators (equipment used to move baggage containers).
One employee, in August 2022, slipped off an extended televator platform and fell about 1.5 metres, sustaining head and back injuries (including a fractured vertebra). Another, in March 2023, fell about 3 metres and suffered a fractured jaw and brain bleeding.
The HSE investigated and determined that guardrails had gaps between the platform and aircraft fuselage, which were exacerbated after platform extensions; flaps on the platforms were sometimes folded down, and operators had not always fully extended the elevator platforms to close the gap.
"This was a reasonably foreseeable risk that British Airways should have been aware of and therefore it should have done more to protect its employees."
- Rebecca Schwartz, Enforcement lawyer, HSE
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Section 2(1), 3(1) and Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 regulation 38(2)
Industrial Chemicals Ltd has been fined £2.5 million after two serious acid leaks at its West Thurrock site in Essex in 2020. The first incident, in January, involved the uncontrolled release of 300,000 litres of hydrochloric acid, forming a toxic gas cloud that forced local schools to close and residents to shelter indoors. The second leak, in August, saw 87 cubic metres of sulphuric acid escape due to cracked pipework and a malfunctioning valve, putting workers and drivers at risk.
Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) found serious failings in maintenance, inspection, and compliance with environmental and safety standards. Both incidents were deemed entirely preventable with proper upkeep and safety protocols.
The court heard that the site had a history of poor health and safety standards, and its classification as a top-tier COMAH site (Control of Major Accident Hazards) made these failures even more serious. The company pleaded guilty to multiple breaches of health, safety, and environmental laws and was handed the fine at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
“The uncontrolled release of significant quantities of hazardous substances in these cases was entirely avoidable.”— Maria Strangward, HSE Principal Inspector
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 Sections 2(1) and 3(1)
Tata Steel has been fined £1.5 million after the death of a 44-year-old contractor at its Port Talbot plant in September 2019. Justin was fatally crushed while carrying out maintenance on a large conveyor system when he entered an area that had not been fully isolated, triggering sensors that activated a moving beam.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Tata Steel failed to ensure the conveyor was properly isolated and inadequately guarded against access to dangerous moving parts. The company admitted breaching health and safety law and was also ordered to pay £26,300 in costs.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 Regulation 2(1)
Bestway Northern Limited was fined £1 million after one of its employees was killed in a delivery incident in Manchester. On 19 February 2019, Warburton was acting as a banksman, guiding a colleague who was reversing an HGV into a store unloading area. He became trapped between the vehicle and a wall, suffering fatal crush injuries.
The HSE found that Bestway had failed in key safety duties: there was no safe system of work for vehicle movements, insufficient risk assessment for the task, and inadequate training for the employees acting as banksmen.
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 regulations 11(1), (2) and Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 section 33(1)(c)
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 197 sections 4(2) and 33(1)(a)
West Fraser (Europe) Ltd, a multinational wood product manufacturer, has been fined over £1 million after two workers were seriously injured in separate incidents at its Cowie plant in 2020 —just months apart.
In January, a utility operator suffered multiple leg fractures after becoming entangled in active machinery inside a storage bunker. He had re-entered the bunker without isolating the power, which was contrary to safety procedures. He was only able to raise the alarm using his own phone. Following the incident, the company installed a locked mesh guard to prevent similar access.
In July, a scaffolder fell 13 feet through a corroded plate on a rooftop gantry, sustaining serious fractures to his body, including his neck and ankle. Investigators found no maintenance schedule in place for the structure, with parts of it rusted and welds nearly failing. The gantry was removed after the incident.
The HSE highlighted the company’s history of failings, referencing a £2 million fine in 2022 after a worker died from burns at the same plant. At Stirling Sheriff Court, West Fraser was fined £28,000 for the first incident and £1.04 million for the second.
“Although both men sustained very serious injuries, both are lucky to be alive. We hope this outcome demonstrates that repeated failures of this nature are not acceptable.”- Stuart Easson, inspector, HSE
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 Section 2(1)
QinetiQ Limited, a defence technology company, has been fined £800,000 after a serious safety failure led to an employee being shot and paralysed during an ammunition test at a Ministry of Defence range in South Wales.
The incident occurred in 25 March 2021 at the MoD’s Pendine Ranges, during a NATO ammunition quality assurance trial. A 5.56mm bullet struck the worker from a gun fired 570 metres away, leaving him paralysed from the shoulders down. He was a father of two.
An HSE investigation found that QinetiQ had failed to conduct a proper risk assessment, resulting in insufficient safety measures to prevent anyone from being in the line of fire during testing.
“Simple and inexpensive steps could have prevented this devastating incident… Employers must not rely on outdated practices but constantly reassess risks to protect their people.”- Stuart Charles, Inspector, HSE
Taylor Wimpey UK Limited has been fined £800,000, and ordered to pay around £6,240 in costs (plus a £2,000 victim surcharge), after a 17-year-old apprentice was injured on one of its construction sites in Weston-Super-Mare.
The incident occurred in August 2023, when the apprentice bricklayer was loading concrete blocks (10-20 blocks) onto temporary flooring at the first floor level. The blocks were stacked on or near a temporary stairwell covering made of timber sheets laid over joists. That covering collapsed, causing the apprentice and the blocks to fall more than two metres, injuring his fingers, hand, wrist, and shoulder.
An HSE investigation found that the joists under the timber sheeting should have been "back propped" (i.e. supported from underneath) — a requirement explicitly mentioned in Taylor Wimpey's own health and safety manual but this was omitted on that plot. If proper back-propping had been in place, the collapse (and injury) likely would have been avoided.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 Section 2(1)
AB Agri Limited, an East Yorkshire company, has been fined £566,000 after an employee lost his lower arm in a preventable machinery incident.
In November 2021, a 34-year-old blender operative was attempting to clear a blockage from a newly installed conveyor at the company’s Fridaythorpe site when his hand was pulled into the mechanism, severing his right arm below the elbow. He had only been employed for a few months and has been unable to return to work for over two years.
A HSE investigation revealed that employees often cleared blockages without proper isolation and lacked adequate training. The company had also failed to review risk assessments and check safety guards on the conveyor.
“This life-changing injury was entirely avoidable. Employers must properly assess risk, implement control measures, and ensure staff are trained to work safely.”
- Sally Gay, Inspector, HSE
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 Section 2(1)
East Riding Sacks Ltd was fined £533,000 after a 51-year-old employee died following a fall in February 2023. Mr Pinder was trying to clear a blockage on the upper deck of production line machinery at the company’s Stamford Bridge site; he was standing on stationary metal rollers when part of the machine was unexpectedly activated, causing him to lose his footing and fall about three metres to the ground.
The HSE investigation found serious safety failures: the company did not have a safe system of work for isolation of the machinery or for removal of blockages, failed to identify the risk of falling from height, and allowed unsafe practices like using the conveyor system as a shortcut over handrails.
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