With us on your side you won’t feel in over your head.


Symbolic image for corporate criminal law

Burness Paull health and safety lawyers provide expert legal advice on compliance with workplace safety duties across a range of industry sectors throughout Scotland such as energy, aviation, marine, rail and construction.

Ranked Tier 2 in independent Legal Directory Legal 500. The Aberdeen team is known for its “strong niche offshore oil and gas safety practice”.

Our health and safety lawyers help with incident investigations and represent businesses and individuals facing enforcement action. We appear at appeal hearings in relation to improvement and prohibition notices, represent interested parties at fatal accident inquiries (FAI) and act for companies and individuals facing criminal charges for safety breaches.

Burness Paull health and safety lawyers can advise on:

  • Incident investigations
  • Criminal Trials
  • Fatal Accident Inquiries
  • Public Inquiries
  • Offshore Safety Case Regulations
  • Safety Case acceptance process
  • Compliance with Improvement notices and Prohibition notices
  • Appeal of notices and attend Employment Tribunal enforcement notice hearings
  • COMAH Regulations
  • The Fee for Intervention scheme

Our health and safety lawyers also:

  • Review risk assessments, policies and procedures
  • Accompany individuals during interviews by police or HSE
  • Provide management training
  • Attend court hearings
  • Attend meetings with the Procurator Fiscal
  • Attend meetings with the HSE

We provide bespoke training to senior managers to ensure they understand their personal and collective responsibilities in relation to workplace safety and leadership.

The firm's health and safety lawyers have worked on some of the most high profile cases in Scotland:

  • HMA v Marathon Oil 2019 - representing Marathon in a criminal prosecution following a major gas release on the Brae Alpha installation
  • HMA v Shell UK 2018 - representing Shell in a criminal prosecution following an offshore accident on the Brent Delta offshore installation
  • PF v Quality Foods 2018 - prosecution in relation to breach of the work at height regulations
  • PF v International Fish Canners 2017- prosecution following a fall through a fragile roof
  • Fatal accident inquiry 2017 into the death of Keane Wallis Bennett - representing the City of Edinburgh Council at a fatal accident inquiry into the death of a school child following a wall collapse at Liberton High School
  • 2016 Acting for Apache in the appeal of an improvement notice related to marine operations
  • HMA v Total 2015 - representing Total in a criminal prosecution following a gas release from the Elgin offshore installation
"They are technically excellent and commercially astute. They provide great client service."
- Chambers, 2024