Corporate Manslaughter

The enactment of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force on the 6th April 2008. This Act strengthens previous health and safety legislations which, where a company was the accused, had required a specific individual to be identified as the ‘controlling mind’ for  corporate manslaughter to be proven rather than accepting cumulative negligence on the part of several individuals.

Examination of the companies’ systems is the new approach which the Act adopts. In looking at whether a company properly managed an activity leading to a death the jury at the trial must:-

 

• Consider whether there were any breaches of health and safety legislation

• Consider whether there were any attitudes, policies, systems or accepted practices which were likely to encourage a breach of health and safety legislation or to have produced tolerance to breaches

• Have regard to health and safety guidance issued by an authority responsible for enforcement

• For there to be an offence there must be a failure of senior management i.e. the people who make significant decisions about the company. As the Ministry of Justice point out, however, delegation of health and safety below this would indicate a systematic failure to manage at the correct level and thus give rise to liability.

So what happens if your company is involved in a prosecution?

The court has three sentencing options:-
 

1. an unlimited fine
2. a publicity order – this requires the company to publish the facts of its conviction and details of the offence in a way specified by the court
3. a remedial order – this requires the company to address the cause of the fatal injury

Where cash flow is key there is a temptation to cut back on non-operational activities. The importance of health and safety must never be compromised. If a fatality occurs, you can expect a knock on the door from HSE and also, perhaps, from the police to investigate corporate manslaughter. If your systems are in place and working well you will most likely have done all that you can. If not, it could be costly!