‘More will be punished’ under Corporate Manslaughter law

New legislation designed to force businesses into taking responsibility for their employees’ wellbeing will lead to a dramatic rise in the number of firms successfully prosecuted for corporate manslaughter, experts have predicted.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into force last month, makes it easier to prosecute companies guilty of causing death through management failings, said workplace consultants Croner.

However, the organisation criticised the Act, which they said does not punish individual directors of large corporations.

Employment law expert Norman Selwyn said the inability of the law to cope with manslaughter charges against all but smaller companies had long been a source of disappointment to proactive campaigners for change.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

He added that all corporate entities, whether large or small, are now within the scope of the law.

“Major industrial accidents will only have a realistic chance of greater prevention if boards of directors formally and publicly accept their collective roles on safety,” he said.

© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008