Publicans warned over liability insurance
The former managers of the Hinds Head in Charnock Richard, Chorley, Lancashire, were fined £1,200 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,620 for failing to buy insurance to protect their employees.
Stephen and Karen Martin were prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) after they employed staff without buying employers’ liability insurance.
South Ribble Magistrates’ Court in Leyland, Lancashire, heard the couple, who no longer run the pub, employed several people including a manager, a cleaner, chef and waiting staff.
As the pair did not buy any insurance, they had no means of paying their employees any compensation they could be awarded in the event of them falling ill or having an accident at work. Despite being warned by HSE inspectors on several occasions between September 2010 and February 2011, the couple failed to address the issue.
The Martins were each found guilty of three breaches of section 1(1) of the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 by not insuring their employees against injury or disease sustained at work. They also failed to attend the court hearing on 23 September.
The HSE’s investigating inspector Shellie Bee said: “This is a legal requirement and not an optional extra.
“Because Stephen and Karen Martin cut corners to save money, they were putting their employees in a position where they could have potentially suffered a life-changing illness or injury at work and had no recourse to any kind of compensation.
“Despite being given ample opportunity to correct this problem over a period of months, they chose to ignore the advice they were given by HSE, so we had no choice but to prosecute.”
