This post was first published on 12th July 2021
Update 4th September 2024
Well it’s a start.At the moment, CEOs of water companies face fines for failing to comply with investigations by the Environment Agency (EA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), but there have been just three such fines since privatisation three decades ago.
Civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told journalists on Wednesday that they planned to tighten compliance rules to force companies to hand over sewage data quickly, and that the maximum sentence for covering up this information or failing to release it would be two yearsFrom the Guardian
Helena Horton
Environment reporter
Wed 4 Sep 2024 17.30 EDT
The original post
The government has just fined Southern water £90,000,000 for pouring sewage into the sea.
In 2017 a worker lost a thumb and fingers in an industrial accident. Almost four years later (May 2021) the company was fined for breaching Health and Safety regulations.
We have fined banks; we have fined hospitals; we have fined network rail
This is ludicrous beyond belief. Corporations or companies are NOT negligent or dishonest. They are pieces of paper with writing on. PEOPLE are negligent and dishonest. And in these cases, the people are usually high up the tree, and their crime is almost always not taking their role seriously and ignoring their own staff at the bottom of the organization.
But who pays the fine? Either the public, or if the fine actually effects the companies finances then cuts will be made at the BOTTOM of the tree.
The ONLY deterrent is a prison sentence for those found responsible. A fine has no effect on a person with a substantial personal fortune, and access to almost unlimited funds from their organization.
Somewhere in the organization, someone has withheld the funds, or not allocated resources and the result is either breaking the law, or a tragedy. That person is never identified, will probably keep their job, and their salary, and their bonus, and their pension. It’s unfair, and just plain stupid.
The threat (and actuality) of a few months, weeks, or even days in jail together with the subsequent criminal record, and increased sentences for subsequent offences would have an immediate effect on directors, executives, and managers behaviour.
So why don’t we simply SEND THE BUGGERS TO JAIL.
In such cases someone MUST go to jail. If the culprit or culprits cannot be found then it must be the head of the organization. It is his job to keep the organization on the straight and narrow. He has failed and its up to him to find the reasons. If he can’t, then he has failed again and that warrants the jail sentence. When he gets out, he will make damn sure it doesn’t happen again, and his friends will take more care too.
Addenda 13/01/2023
And a piece of paper takes the hit for Trump dodging taxes.
10/06/23
And another piece of paper has been fined £2.1m as for dumping raw sewage into the sea. The CEO of South West Water, Susan Davy, is paid over £400,000 per year and usually gets over £1,000,000 in bonuses. She decided not to take it this year, but she is paying out £112m out to the shareholders. (I would guess she is a major shareholder). All the “outraged” local MP is calling for is resignations.
No!
SEND THE BUGGERS TO JAIL.