By Chris Carter, Managing Solicitor · Carter & Carter Solicitors · 6 March 2026

There is a common assumption held by workers in physically demanding jobs — police officers, firefighters, construction workers, factory workers. That assumption is this: danger is part of the job, so if something goes wrong, that’s just the risk you accepted.

A prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive against Derbyshire Constabulary in January 2026 makes clear that this assumption is wrong. And it has significant implications for anyone working in any sector where risk is present.

What happened at the Derbyshire Police training exercise?

On 2 February 2021, four serving police officers were burned during a riot control training exercise at a facility in Rotherham. As part of a simulated public disorder drill, officers wearing flame-retardant PPE were required to face petrol bombs thrown by fellow officers. Four sustained burns. Three required hospital treatment.

An HSE investigation found that Derbyshire Constabulary had failed to properly identify and control the risks involved — despite the high-risk nature of the exercise being obvious. The training was meant to prepare officers for dangerous situations. Instead, it became one.

At Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on 19 January 2026, Derbyshire Constabulary pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 — the same section that applies to every employer in the country. They were fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £9,470 in costs.

Does working in a dangerous job mean I have fewer rights?

No. This is one of the most persistent and damaging myths in workplace injury law. The nature of your job does not reduce your employer’s obligations to you. Whether you work in an office or on a construction site, your employer must carry out suitable risk assessments, put adequate control measures in place, provide appropriate training and PPE, and ensure that every task — however routine it might seem — is carried out safely.

What changes in a high-risk role is not the duty, but the standard of care required to meet it. The more dangerous the activity, the more rigorous the risk assessment needs to be. Derbyshire Constabulary did not meet that standard. The HSE found the constabulary exposed officers to significant and avoidable risks. The fact that the job involves danger made the failure worse, not more acceptable.

What does this mean if you’ve been injured at work?

The Derbyshire Constabulary prosecution matters because of the principle it reinforces. Your employer cannot point to the hazardous nature of your work as a defence for failing to manage it properly. If the risk was foreseeable — and a training exercise involving petrol bombs is about as foreseeable as risk gets — then the duty to control it was absolute.

If you have been injured at work — in any industry — and your employer failed to take reasonable precautions, you may have a claim. You don’t need to have been off work for a lengthy period. You don’t need to have been permanently disabled. You need to show that your employer was negligent, and that their negligence caused your injury.

At Carter & Carter, we handle workplace injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis. You speak directly with Chris Carter or David Healey — not a call centre, not a junior solicitor — from the first call to the end of the claim. Most claims resolve in 2–6 months.