Kill Bill appears - finally
After eight years, the government has introduced a draft Corporate Manslaughter bill. But do you have as much to fear from its penalties as originally thought?
Manslaughter bill. After eight years of promises, the government has introduced its draft corporate manslaughter bill. As its name suggests, its aim is to introduce a new criminal offence of corporate manslaughter. This will apply when a person has been killed, but no guilty individual can be identified. Instead, it’s proposed that the senior management of a corporation will be guilty if they “grossly failed to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or others”.
Assessing conduct. An organisation’s conduct would be assessed against set criteria. This would include; (1) the extent to which it had breached relevant health and safety legislation; (2) whether or not senior managers knew of the risk that their company was running, and; (3) did they seek to profit from the breach, e.g. boost productivity by disabling safety devices on machinery?
Directors’ liability. The new bill sidesteps the thorny issue of directors’ responsibilities. Instead of applying to individual directors, it will target the liability of the company itself. However, the current law would apply and individuals will remain liable to prosecution if personal liability can be established. This means that imprisonment won’t be a sanction. Instead, all cases will be heard in the Crown Court and the penalty could be an unlimited fine.
A cynical view. It might look hard-hitting on paper, but don’t worry just yet. This is because the bill will be open to consultation between now and June 17, 2005. A General Election is scheduled for May 5 and if Labour does return for a third term in office, it’s more than likely that the bill won’t be a priority for Parliamentary time. So don’t hold your breath about anything happening soon.
Tip. To reduce the risk of a prosecution under existing legislation, ensure that you’ve effective control measures in place for any high-risk activities. If not, prioritise those which are outstanding and draw up a time-scale for improvements to be made.
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