In-person attendance
On 18 October 2023, you are invited to attend HSLA event “Will Organisations ever find favour with the Court of Appeal?”
This will be followed by a Special General Meeting to review and vote on the update to the rules of the Association in relation to election to the Committee. Elections will follow later this year so please attend the Special General Meeting.
We have also set out below the details of an online event for members who are interested in running for a position on the committee, where existing committee members will discuss the work of the Association and the different roles; please join us for that.
Elections will follow later this year and we encourage members to both stand for positions where they think they can make a positive contribution to the Association and its members and for member to attend to vote.
Our Association provides an important forum for us all to meet and share experiences, and get the behind the scenes stories from those who act in the most serious and high profile health and safety cases, and we welcome positive contributions.
“Will Organisations ever find favour with the Court of Appeal?”
Event details:
Whilst the Sentencing Guideline on health and safety offences provides a level of certainty for micro to large companies this does not exist for very large organisations and we have seen fines increasing for VLO’s. When these sentences have been appealed, the Court of Appeal has more often agreed with the sentencing judge’s decision and not interfered with the sentence even where there is a lack of clarity around how the Guideline has been applied. Following a number of unsuccessful cases where VLO’s have appealed sentence in the Court of Appeal, how can we best advise VLO’s on sentence, will VLO’s ever be successful in the Court of Appeal or do these cases risk making things worse? John Cooper KC and Tim Hill will share their experience at the Court of Appeal on the Northern Gas case and also lead a discussion on this issue.
Speakers:
John Cooper KC – Crown Office Chambers
John specialises in the fields of Safety and Environmental Regulatory work. He has appeared as an expert in this area in commercial litigation in the USA and has been involved in many of the appellate cases that have shaped the law in the field of Health & Safety. He represents companies, directors and senior managers in the Criminal Regulatory field, involving gross negligence manslaughter, corporate manslaughter and safety and environmental breaches in cases involving fatalities and serious injuries in the workplace and environmental damage. He advises in relation to compliance and good practice in both fields. John was named ‘Health and Safety Junior of the Year’ in 2010 and ‘Health and Safety Silk of the Year’ in 2016 at the Chambers and Partners Bar Awards.
Tim Hill – Eversheds Sutherland
Tim specialises in the defence of criminal regulatory matters, including fatalities and corporate manslaughter, health and safety issues, Coroner’s Inquests, environmental law, process safety and traffic commissioner cases. He also leads on safety compliance matters. Tim’s recent experience includes: acting for various oil & gas and chemical sector clients in relation to safety incidents or Competent Authority investigations; acting for an international offshore company in relation to the safe evacuation of a major North Sea gas rig; acting for an international chemical company following a significant explosion at their plant; acting for a pharmaceutical company following a fatal incident at their manufacturing plant; acting for a national energy company after an offshore helicopter crash involving seven fatalities. Tim holds an OPITO Certificate in Offshore safety. He is also a Solicitor Advocate with rights of audience in the Higher Criminal Courts.
Special General Meeting to amend the rules around the election of the Committee
This meeting has been called by the HSLA Committee to consider and vote on proposed amendments to the HSLA rules around the election of committee members. A full notice, copies of the draft Rules and an Explanatory Note will be made available to members via the HSLA website here.
PDF Downloads
Rules of the Health and Saftey Association
The amendment to the rules is being proposed in advance of elections which are to be held towards the end of the year and our intention is to run them together with our Christmas drinks event – date and details to follow.
There will be an online virtual session between 2-3pm on Thursday 2 November hosted by the Chair of the HSLA, Danny McShee, and other committee members to talk about the work of the committee and the various roles, for HSLA members who are interested in running for a position. To register for this online event, please click here.
Event Timings:
5.15pm Registration
5.30- 6.30pm Seminar
6.30-7pm Special General Meeting
7pm – 9pm Networking and refreshments
Venue:
In person attendance is encouraged at Kennedys, 20 Fenchurch St, London EC3M 3BY – register below.
NB Please bring along photo ID to get access to the Walkie Talkie building where Kennedys are based.
Remote access:
The event is also being offered virtually by Zoom – to register click here.
Bookings
Bookings are closed for this event.
