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CCA
Comment on Guardian story: "Firms Face Corporate
Killing Law"
It was reported in the Guardian today that
David Blunkett will tomorrow (Tuesday) make clear
the government's intention to introduce a new offence
of 'corporate manslaughter'.
It
must be assumed that 'the new offence of corporate
manslaughter' means the offence of 'corporate killing'
that was first proposed by the Law Commission in 1996,
and subsequently approved by the Government in its
consultation document of 2000.
This
offence would allow a company to be prosecuted if
it can be shown that there was a very serious management
failure on the part of the company that was 'a cause'
of the death. The management failure would have to
have 'fallen far below what could reasonably be expected.'
In
assessing any proposed offence of 'corporate killing'
by the Government, it is important to look at the
following issues:
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does
it apply to all employing organisations, or only
private companies.
The Law Commission said it should only apply to
companies, but the Government, in its consultation
document, said it should apply to all employing
organisations. |
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does
it apply to crown bodies, or are they excluded
from its application.
The Government in its consultation document said
it should not apply to Crown bodies, but in the
responses to the Government's consultation documents
employer organisations, unions and other respondees
were almost all of the view that crown bodies
should not be exempt |
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does
it apply to British companies that commit the
offence abroad.
It is current law that British citizens that commit
the offence of manslaughter abroad can be prosecuted
in Britain, but in its consultation document the
Government was not of the view that British companies
that commit the offence abroad should be able
to be prosecuted in Britain. |
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Can
directors be prosecuted for 'contributing' to
an offence of 'Corporate Killing
The
Government in its consultation document said that
it was considering created an additional offence
which would allow a director to be prosecuted
if it could be shown that the director or senior
manager had 'contributed to' or 'significantly
contributed' to the offence committed by the company.
However, more recently, the Government in
a letter to companies as part of its 'regulatory
impact assessment' stated that it no longer supported
such a reform. |
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Who
will investigate and prosecute the offence.
Currently manslaughter is investigated by the
police with the assistance of the Health and Safety
Executive or other regulatory agency. It is then
prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service. The
Government proposed in its consultation document
that apart from in the case of disasters, the
police's role in the investigation would be minimised
and investigation responsibility would pass to
the HSE or other regulatory body. The HSE would
also be responsibility for its prosecution |
For
more information
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To
see the Guardian story, click
here |
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To
read about the current law of manslaughter, Click
Here |
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To
see details of manslaughter convictions, acquittals
and on-going cases, Click
Here |
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To
read about the proposed new offence of 'corporate
killing' click
here |
To
contact the CCA: 0207 490 4494
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