HSE Enforcement Round-Up: Key Prosecutions from 2025

The Health and Safety Executive and the Office of Rail and Road delivered some of their most consequential enforcement actions in 2025, with courts issuing fines totalling tens of millions of pounds and, in several cases, custodial sentences for individuals. The cases span every major sector — rail, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and leisure — and carry clear lessons for employers across the United Kingdom.

Network Rail Fined £7.16 Million Over Track Worker Deaths

Two separate prosecutions in February 2025 resulted in Network Rail being fined a combined £7.16 million. In the first case, the company was fined £3.75 million after two employees — working on track maintenance in Margam, Wales on 3 July 2019 — were struck and killed by a passing train. A third worker narrowly escaped. The Office of Rail and Road found systematic and wide-ranging safety failures: the workers had no site or distance lookout protection and no line block was in place to prevent trains travelling down their section of track. In the second case, Network Rail was fined £3.41 million following the death of track worker Tyler Robert Byrne, who was struck by a passenger train at Surbiton on 9 February 2021. Investigators found the team had no protection and no adequate warning systems — despite Network Rail having received two Improvement Notices from the ORR in July 2019 requiring exactly those protections. The ORR noted that subsequent improvements had 'lacked urgency and pace'. Taken together, these cases illustrate a critical principle: receiving an enforcement notice is not the end of the process. Employers must implement required changes promptly and verify their effectiveness, or face significantly aggravated penalties when incidents occur.

AB Agri Limited: £566,000 Fine After Worker Loses Arm in Conveyor

In March 2025, AB Agri Limited was fined £566,000 after Bartosz Gaj, a blender operative at the company's Fridaythorpe site in East Yorkshire, had his right arm severed below the elbow on 3 November 2021. Mr Gaj had been attempting to clear a blockage in a conveyor that had been installed just months earlier and was already prone to jamming. The HSE investigation revealed a catalogue of failures: operatives routinely cleared blockages themselves without any training in isolation procedures; no review of the risk assessment had been carried out when the new conveyor was installed; and there was no system to ensure guards and safety features were in place before the machine was used. Mr Gaj was unable to return to work for over two years and required major adjustments to his daily life. HSE inspector Sally Gay stated: 'The life-changing injury Mr Gaj suffered could so easily have been avoided by properly assessing the risks and applying the correct control measures.' This case is a stark reminder that when new machinery is installed, risk assessments must be reviewed and updated before the equipment enters service — not after an incident has occurred.

Snowdome Fined £100,000 After Child Dies on Toboggan Run

Snowdome Limited in Tamworth, Staffordshire, was fined £100,000 in February 2025 after a child was killed at a birthday party on 24 September 2021. The child's toboggan slid into a staff member on the slope; the staff member fell backwards onto the child, who died at the scene from head injuries. The HSE found that Snowdome had failed to adequately assess and control the risks associated with tobogganing activities. A senior enforcement lawyer for the HSE noted that venues must ensure 'sufficient safe systems of work, information, instructions, training and supervision' are in place for every activity they offer to the public. The case is a reminder that section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 — which covers the safety of non-employees — applies with equal force to leisure and hospitality businesses as it does to industrial employers.

Farm Fined £133,000 After Man Falls Ten Metres Through Barn Roof

Dodwell Farm Limited of Bursledon was fined £133,000 in January 2025 after a man fell through a barn roof while attempting to fix panels. He was left severely injured after falling ten metres. The HSE investigation found the farm had failed to implement any appropriate safety precautions — no barriers, no netting, and no access equipment had been provided. HSE inspector Nicola Pinckney commented: 'The sentence imposed on Dodwell Farm Limited should underline to everyone who carries out work at height that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to follow the regulations extremely seriously.' Falls from height remain the single largest cause of fatal injuries in UK workplaces, and the Working at Height Regulations 2005 require employers to avoid work at height where possible, and where it cannot be avoided, to use the most appropriate equipment and implement collective protection measures before relying on personal protective equipment.

What These Cases Mean for Your Business

The pattern across these prosecutions is consistent: incidents that lead to prosecution almost always involve a failure to assess risk properly, a failure to implement adequate controls, or a failure to act on warnings — including previous enforcement notices. The fines are calculated by reference to the organisation's turnover, meaning large employers face penalties that can run into millions of pounds. From April 2026, updated sentencing guidelines are expected to increase fines further for health and safety offences. Now is the time to review your risk assessments, check that all machinery guarding is in place and documented, audit your work-at-height procedures, and ensure that any outstanding actions from previous inspections or audits have been completed.