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Safety fines paid by the construction sector increased 83% in the first year of the new sentencing guidelines.

Analysis by law firm Clyde & Co found that construction companies were ordered to pay out 拢13m in the 12 months from 1 February 2016, when tougher penalties for safety and corporate manslaughter offences were introduced, compared to 拢7m in the previous year.

Under the new rules, the scale of fines varies according to the turnover of the company and can exceed 拢20m for the worst cases involving corporate manslaughter, and potentially more for the largest companies.

Fines against construction firms represented 21% of the overall total collected by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) in the first year of the new sentencing guidelines. The highest fine imposed on the sector was 拢2.6m, which was .

Last week, for the death of a tunnel engineer and injurires in 2014 and injuries to two other workers in 2015, and for exposing workers to asbestos on a school refurbishment in 2012.

The amount collected in fines by the HSE across all industries increased by 74% overall during the first year of the new sentencing guideline, to 拢61.6m from 拢35.5m.

Rhian Greaves, head of compliance and strategic support at Clyde & Co, said: 鈥淭he floodgates are open with more fines exceeding 拢1m this year than in the previous 15 years combined.  Companies should be concerned that fines are now routinely hitting the 拢1 million mark, even in apparently less serious cases meaning that all breaches of health and safety law are now a serious threat to a company鈥檚 bottom line.

鈥淭hanks to the new sentencing guidelines, health and safety is now a top priority for the boardroom. Our research confirms what we have been seeing in practice 鈥� the new sentencing guidelines are biting hard.鈥�