Experts have warned of a dramatic rise in the number of corporate manslaughter cases heard in the UK as a result of new legislation. Norman Selwyn, a leading authority on employment law, said, “It is now estimated that there are likely to be about a dozen or so corporate manslaughter prosecutions each year and that the clarification of the law will more than likely lead to these being successful.
“In the past it’s only been possible to prosecute small companies, because you could actually identify the managing director and the company as being one and the same thing. You couldn’t prosecute a large company because there was no controlling mind. Now the playing field is level because large companies and small companies are all in the firing line - government departments, local authorities can all be prosecuted under this act.”
But while he forecasted a rise in company prosecutions under the Act, he criticised the legislation for not going far enough by failing to create a new offence for individual directors who control large corporations.
“The inability of the law to cope with manslaughter charges against all but smaller companies has long been a source of disappointment to proactive campaigners for change. But the Corporate Manslaughter Act is by no means perfect. It is strange that it does not place specific health and safety duties on company directors.”
Peter Power, a specialist in crisis management and a member of the reference group to the UK Commission on national security, echoed Selwyn’s analysis. “The pressure on directors of all corporations to move their attitude towards a culture of safety will come from their stakeholders – shareholders, customers, suppliers, regulators, business partners, and employees – as well as the law.
“It is all about up-to-date corporate resilience. It is unacceptable that companies and their directors should learn only from their own mistakes as we used to do in the past. Driving any organisation forward in 2008 depends less on the rear view mirror and more on the road ahead.”
Martin Smith, Executive Director of Croner, said, “Every company now has a legal responsibility to monitor its activities and management practices to ensure the correct systems are in place to protect health and safety. Those systems should be constantly reviewed with lines of communication between directors and staff always open so that concerns can be raised and properly addressed.”
(Courtesy The People Bulletin)