Health, Safety and Environment

Corporate Manslaughter Bill - Government response to report and recommendations from the Home Affairs and Work and Pensions Committees

13 March 2006

The draft Bill set out the Government's proposals for reforming the current law of corporate manslaughter in order to overcome the main obstacle to convictions under the current English law.

Currently a company can only be prosecuted if there is evidence to show that an individual, deemed to be a "directing and controlling mind" of the company, can be prosecuted. This is known as the "identification doctrine". The draft bill removes the need to attach corporate guilt to the criminal negligence of a single very senior individual within the company and thus allow companies to be found guilty of manslaughter if grossly negligent management failures led to a death. The draft Bill also removes so called "Crown Immunity" ensuring that workers in Crown institutions are protected by the offence.

The Home Affairs and Work and Pensions Committees made a number of recommendations that the Government accepts would lead to improvements in the Bill, in particular a re-framing of the test for management failure. The Committees also recommended that the Bill should extend to directors whose negligence contributed to the death. The Government rejected the inclusion of individual liability for directors in this Bill but accepted that a conviction for corporate manslaughter raises important questions about the board level management of a company and agreed to look further at legislation on disqualification of directors in connection with the new offence.

The CWU welcomes the Government's recognition that compliance with relevant health and safety legislation and guidance is a key factor for juries to consider. The Government has also agreed that when a sub-contracted worker is killed manslaughter prosecutions can take place against different organisations within the employment chain – including the employment agency, contractor or subcontractor.

Whilst the announcement is a step in the right direction after all the delays over the last 8 years there is still a way to go before we get the finished product.

The Government statement issued by Home Office minister Fiona Mactaggart on 8 February 2006, admitted that there are areas in the draft that need strengthening and that is reassuring.

It is not organisations and companies that kill and injure people, It is the people in charge who own, direct and manage those companies and organisations who through carelessness, negligence, incompetence or sheer disregard for the law which creates the poor safety standards which eventually kills and injures. Therefore new positive legal duties on directors and senior managers must be introduced to ensure safe workplaces because safety in the workplace depends on responsibility in the boardroom. That not only protects workers but protects safety-conscious companies and directors who have to compete with those who ignore the law to cut costs.

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has supported the idea of introducing new safety duties for directors and are recommending that they should be introduced. If accepted and introduced by Government, the combination of these duties and the new Corporate Manslaughter Bill could be effective and help make a real difference to the health and safety of workers but we have got to see exactly what the Government's reaction will be to the HSCs recommendations.