Health & Safety

Osborn Abas Hunt advises corporates and public bodies on health & safety and regulatory matters arising from serious incidents, including workplace fatalities, life-changing injuries and high-risk events. The department’s work includes HSE investigations, inquests, corporate manslaughter investigations and prosecutions, and appeals against enforcement action.

The firm is regularly instructed immediately following incidents, advising on internal investigations, regulator engagement and the preservation of evidence. Its work often involves managing legal risk in the early stages of matters that attract public scrutiny and reputational sensitivity.

The department has experience in complex, multi-party investigations involving contractors, joint ventures and overlapping dutyholder responsibilities, including issues of control, supervision and allocation of responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.

Recent work includes acting in a corporate manslaughter prosecution arising from a fatal incident at a holiday park; securing an acquittal for a national infrastructure contractor following a multi-week Crown Court trial; advising a hotel group in relation to a fatality investigation and supporting the withdrawal of enforcement action; and acting for a joint venture principal contractor in connection with a serious incident at a major refinery project, including appeals against Improvement Notices.