Compliance Radar
Who was sanctioned, and for what?
Fines, court rulings and incidents from Europe and North America: 718 cases from 32 jurisdictions, each with an official source and checked against that source before publication. Filter by country, area of law and sector. Click a chart to drill down one level.
Click a bar to drill down one level.
Where?
by authority- Lincoln Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Health and Safety Executive) €804,320 45 % · 1 case
- Birmingham Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Health and Safety Executive) €691,518 38 % · 1 case
- Health and Safety Executive (Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court) €141,014 8 % · 1 case
- Health and Safety Executive (Aberdeen Sheriff Court) €61,335 3 % · 1 case
- Airdrie Sheriff Court (Ermittlungen: SEPA, Anklage: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service) €58,610 3 % · 1 case
- Employment Tribunal €23,018 1 % · 1 case
- Taunton Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Environment Agency) €18,635 1 % · 1 case
- Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — 0 % · 1 case
What for?
by area of lawAll areas of law
Who?
by company- McCain Foods (G.B.) Limited €804,320 45 % · 1 case
- Samworth Brothers Limited €691,518 38 % · 1 case
- Puratos Limited €141,014 8 % · 1 case
- Duncan Farms Limited €61,335 3 % · 1 case
- Devro (Scotland) Limited €58,610 3 % · 1 case
- Gate Gourmet €23,018 1 % · 1 case
- Manor Farm Dairy Ltd €18,635 1 % · 1 case
- Greencore Group plc — 0 % · 1 case
When?
per quarter, by date of decision| Period | Cases | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2023 | 0 | — |
| Q4 2023 | 1 | €804,320 |
| Q1 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q2 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q3 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q4 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q1 2025 | 0 | — |
| Q2 2025 | 0 | — |
| Q3 2025 | 0 | — |
| Q4 2025 | 4 | €100,263 |
| Q1 2026 | 0 | — |
| Q2 2026 | 1 | €61,335 |
| Q3 2026 | 2 | €832,532 |
8 cases
22 Nov 2023 McCain Foods (G.B.) LimitedMcCain Foods: £700,000 after finger amputation while cleaning a machine €804,320
An employee lost two fingers when his hand was drawn into a rotary valve while he was removing a piece of string from a chute on a breading line. The HSE criticised missing guarding, an inadequate risk assessment and inadequate training. Fine of £700,000 plus costs.
Cleaning and fault clearance are high-risk activities – guarding and training must cover precisely these situations.
Safe cleaning of machinery only when stopped
Missing or inadequate training played a role in the decision.
- Authority / court
- Lincoln Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Health and Safety Executive)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Workplace safety and accidents
- Legal basis
- Section 2(1) Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Regulation 11(1) Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 22 Nov 2023
Original amount 700,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Nov 2023.
- McCain Foods fined after employee loses fingers (HSE) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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4 Sep 2026 Samworth Brothers LimitedSamworth Brothers: £594,000 after two workers scalded at steam line €691,518
At the Kettleby Foods plant in Melton Mowbray, an employee and a contractor were scalded with hot water while replacing a leaking gasket on an isolation valve of a steam line (burns to 4–5 % and 9 % of their body surface respectively). The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the task had neither been assessed nor documented as a safe system of work, isolation and lock-off procedures had not been applied, fall protection was missing and supervision was inadequate. Following a guilty plea, a fine of £594,000, plus £6,000 compensation for the injured employee, costs and a victim surcharge.
Maintenance on steam and pressure lines requires a written isolation and lock-off procedure that is supervised on site.
Isolating and locking off equipment during maintenance (lockout/tagout)
- Authority / court
- Birmingham Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Health and Safety Executive)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Workplace safety and accidents
- Legal basis
- Section 2 Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 16 Sep 2026
Original amount 594,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 4 Sep 2026.
- Food manufacturing giant fined £594,000 after two workers scalded at Melton Mowbray site (HSE) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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17 Jul 2026 Puratos LimitedPuratos: 120,000 GBP for flour dust above exposure limits and heavy sack handling €141,014
During an inspection in December 2024, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found dust escaping from machinery, blowing down with compressed air and dry sweeping at the bakery ingredients factory; measurements confirmed that workplace exposure limits had been exceeded, with a risk of asthma. In addition, employees lifted 25 kg sacks by hand every day. The site had already been cited in 2021 for the same deficiencies; fine of 120,000 GBP plus 6,270 GBP in costs.
Companies that do not permanently remedy deficiencies after a citation pay significantly more the next time – flour dust is a recognised cause of asthma.
Dust exposure and lifting heavy loads
- Authority / court
- Health and Safety Executive (Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Workplace safety and accidents
- Legal basis
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s. 2(1)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Repeat case
- yes
- Published
- 20 Jul 2026
Original amount 120,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Jul 2026.
- Food manufacturer fined £120,000 after workers exposed to hazardous dust and manual handling risks Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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7 May 2026 Duncan Farms LimitedDuncan Farms: 53,000 GBP because a worker was caught in an unguarded conveyor €61,335
In October 2024, an employee of the egg producer climbed between two running manure conveyors to check a noise and was caught at the in-running nip; he suffered nerve damage to both arms. The drive had no fixed or interlocked guards – instruction and clothing rules alone were not sufficient. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution resulted in a fine of 53,000 GBP.
Instruction is no substitute for technical safeguards: in-running nips must be protected by fixed or interlocked guards.
Stopping machinery before intervening
- Authority / court
- Health and Safety Executive (Aberdeen Sheriff Court)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Workplace safety and accidents
- Legal basis
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, reg. 11(1) und (2); Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s. 33(1)(c)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 13 May 2026
Original amount 53,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 7 May 2026.
- Egg farm fined after worker trapped in running conveyor machinery Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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17 Dec 2025 Greencore Group plcGreencore/Bakkavor: takeover only with sale of sauce plant in Bristol Order
In the planned acquisition of the food manufacturer Bakkavor, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found a substantial lessening of competition in chilled own-label sauces for UK supermarkets. It cleared the merger only because Greencore undertook to sell its entire chilled soups and sauces plant in Bristol, including its employees, to a pre-determined purchaser.
Even overlaps in small product segments can hold up an entire acquisition – prepare remedies early.
- Authority / court
- Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
- Area of law
- Competition law · Merger control
- Legal basis
- Enterprise Act 2002, s. 73(2) (Undertakings in lieu of reference)
- Action
- Order
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 18 Dec 2025
- CMA case page: Greencore / Bakkavor merger inquiry Official register or notice
- CMA: Decision on acceptance of undertakings in lieu of reference (ME/2257/25), 17.12.2025 Decision of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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11 Nov 2025 Devro (Scotland) LimitedDevro (Scotland): 48,000 GBP fine for discharging industrial wastewater into burn €58,610
In July 2021, a blockage in the foul sewer at the Moodiesburn plant (collagen casings for sausages) caused untreated industrial wastewater to back up into the surface water system, polluting the Bothlin Burn with ammonia and organic load. The company pleaded guilty on 11 November 2025; on 24 March 2026, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) reported a fine of 48,000 GBP plus a 3,600 GBP victim surcharge.
On-site drainage needs monitoring and maintenance so that faults in the foul sewer do not reach watercourses via surface water pipes.
- Authority / court
- Airdrie Sheriff Court (Ermittlungen: SEPA, Anklage: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service)
- Area of law
- Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits
- Legal basis
- Regulations 4 und 44(1)(a) Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011; Section 20(3)(a) Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- unknown
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 24 Mar 2026
Original amount 51,600 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 11 Nov 2025.
- Sausage casing firm fined £48,000 for polluting North Lanarkshire burn with industrial effluent Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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22 Oct 2025 Gate GourmetTribunal: Gate Gourmet files no response – £20,000 to whistleblower €23,018
Because Gate Gourmet failed to file a response to the claim despite repeated requests, the Manchester Employment Tribunal found that there had been detriment on grounds of a protected disclosure and in January 2026 awarded £15,000 for loss of earnings and £5,000 for injury to feelings. An application for reconsideration, based on an email inbox that was no longer monitored, was refused.
Correspondence from authorities and courts must go to monitored addresses – missed deadlines turn a defensible claim into a default judgment.
Managing deadlines and incoming mail in litigation
- Authority / court
- Employment Tribunal
- Area of law
- Whistleblower protection · Retaliation against whistleblowers
- Legal basis
- Employment Rights Act 1996, s. 47B (Benachteiligung wegen geschützter Offenlegung); Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024, Rule 22
- Action
- Other
- Status of proceedings
- unknown
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 7 Jan 2026
Original amount 20,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Oct 2025.
- Mr S Farrell v Gate Gourmet: 2401441/2024 Court decision
- Mr S Farrell v Gate Gourmet: 2401441/2024 – Urteil (PDF) Court decision
- Mr S Farrell v Gate Gourmet: 2401441/2024 – Judgment (Rule 22), 22.10.2025 Court decision
- Mr S Farrell v Gate Gourmet: 2401441/2024 – Reconsideration Court decision
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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8 Oct 2025 Manor Farm Dairy LtdManor Farm Dairy: fine after slurry overflow into stream near Dorchester €18,635
In March 2024, cattle slurry ran from the dairy farm's lagoons into a stream, seriously damaging it over more than 2 km, with effects up to 4.5 km downstream. The court imposed a fine of 6,000 GBP (reduced from 9,000 GBP because of an early guilty plea) and 10,158.50 GBP in costs; the Environment Agency described the incident as avoidable.
Farms must maintain sufficient slurry storage capacity and monitor lagoons.
- Authority / court
- Taunton Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Environment Agency)
- Area of law
- Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits
- Legal basis
- Regulations 12(1)(b) und 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- unknown
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Culpability
- negligent
- Mitigating circumstances
- Early guilty plea (fine reduced from 9,000 to 6,000 GBP).
- Published
- 13 Oct 2025
Original amount 16,158.5 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 8 Oct 2025.
- Manor Farm Dairy in Dorset fined for slurry polluting river Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link