Don't get shopped for non-compliance

When shopping for the best deal to have its 21 stores checked for electrical safety, London retailer Oliver Bonas chose CLM primarily because of the clarity in explaining all the compliance requirements, according to internal sales Natalie Wild.

The simplest way of describing the legal requirement is, if you don’t have a safety certificate for everything with a plug on it being checked, you’re wide open to the harshest penalties now enforceable under the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007. In Scotland, the Corporate Homicide Act applies.

Nobody is immune from the law of course and this summer, a company director in a different industry was the very first to be charged for unlawfully killing by gross negligence under the Corporate Manslaughter Act, as well as under common law.

In addition, both he personally and the company face one health & safety charge each in relation to the same incident. Imprisonment is now an option and offences could incur the maximum £20,000 fine.

In the very same month this director was charged under the act, CLM faced an unprecidented rush on PAT orders. In June, we co-incidentally broke all records by conducting 100,000 PATs requested by clients during one week.

CLM is currently negotiating an order for testing the portable appliances for all 150 outlets of national food retailer. Our advice to all retailers is shop for electrical compliance, before you “get shopped.”