Health & Safety
Katie has a successful health and safety practice and is ranked as an up and coming junior in this area in Chambers & Partners.
Katie has particular expertise in advising on fire safety including the application of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. She also edits the chapter on building control and approved inspectors’ liability under the Building Act 1980 and the new Building Safety Act 2022 in Emden on Construction Law.
Notable cases include:
- Advised a mobile network operator in respect of the fire risk assessment requirements for 14,000 sites across England.
- Represented Serco Ltd (led by James Maxwell-Scott KC) in a prosecution under s. 2 HSWA 1974. Serco Ltd pleaded guilty on a basis that was not agreed. The resulting Newton Hearing lasted for 17 days. This was an unusual case which examined the circumstances of the first death of a custody officer at the hands of a prisoner during a control and restrain procedure in this jurisdiction. You can read more about the case here.
- Represented Greenfeeds Ltd (led by Mark Balysz KC) in the corporate manslaughter prosecution arising from two deaths at work in a confined space.
- Represented Stoneforce Ltd at two pre-trial hearings in the TopShop/Arcadia prosecution relating to the tragic death of a 10-year old boy at a TopShop store in Reading in February 2017.
- Represented NR, director of a roofing company, in a prosecution arising from two employees suffering a fall from height during roof works. NR pleaded guilty and the HSE sought a custodial sentence which was avoided. NR was sentenced to community service.
- Represented FC Ltd in a sentencing hearing following the death of a resident of their care home who was crushed under a fallen fire door where the CQC was prosecuting.
- Represented OE Ltd, a manufacturing business, in a sentencing hearing after they pleaded guilty in a case arising out of a failure to properly guard moving parts of a machine.
- Represented SO Ltd, a manufacturing business, in a sentencing hearing after they pleaded guilty in a case arising out of a failure to properly guard moving parts of a machine.
- Represented an individual in respect of a sentencing hearing arising out of a road traffic offence.
Selected Cases
View full profile »News
- James Maxwell-Scott KC and Katie Sage recently represented Serco Ltd in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive
- Arcadia/Topshop Trial
Articles
- The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 – The Road To Life Imprisonment? By Katie Sage and Jack Murphy
- Innocent until probably guilty
Events
Qualifications
- BPTC, Outstanding
- BCL
- BA (Hons) Oxon, First Class
- Hardwicke Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
- Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
- Buchanan Prize, Lincoln’s Inn
- Sir Roger Bannister Scholarship, Pembroke College
- Pembroke College Exhibition
Memberships
- HSLA
- PNBA
- PIBA
Recommendations
“Katie is exceptional. She is really quick and intelligent, and has incredible analytical skills.”
Inquests & Inquiries, Up and Coming Junior: Chambers & Partners, 2023
“Katie is very attentive and good with clients.” “She is very thorough.”
Health & Safety, Up and Coming Junior: Chambers & Partners, 2023
“A real star in the making. Ferociously bright and hardworking, and with incredible powers of recall combined with an intuition for wider case strategy. Clients love her for taking the time to understand the finer detail of a case, and quickly making herself indispensable to the team. There is no doubt she will be a highly sought after barrister in the years to come.”
Inquests & Inquires, Leading Juniors: Legal 500, 2023
Consumer Law, Rising Star
Legal 500, 2023
“A rising star who has really strengthened the junior end of her set.”
Rising Star: Legal 500 2021 & 2022
