14-10. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the body responsible for the regulation and enforcement of health and safety matters in the United Kingdom. Recently, the HSE has begun implementing new sentencing guidelines to companies guilty of breaching health and safety laws. According to the HSE website, the fine is related to the turnover of the business; in other words, the larger the firm, the bigger the fine.

According to an article in Management Today,220 the new guidelines offer some relief by lowering the fines for smaller businesses that cannot afford to pay extreme fines. At the same time, under the new policies, bigger companies convicted of an offense will be subjected to much bigger fines than before. All in all, what negative or positive impact can the policy have on health and safety management in organizations?