Partner Article

Corporate Manslaughter ? a step closer

With Watson Burton LLP Law FirmThe long-awaited Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 20 July 2006 introducing a potential new statutory offence of corporate manslaughter.The Bill follows Law Commission proposals from as far back as 1996, a Home Office paper in 2000, and the publication of a draft corporate manslaughter bill last March. The Bill is aimed at tackling the difficulty of prosecuting corporations under the current law which requires the problematic identification of the “controlling mind” of the company.Under the Bill, an organisation would be guilty of an offence if the way in which any of its activities are managed or organised by its senior managers causes a person’s death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care owed to the deceased. Senior managers include those involved significantly in the making of decisions about how activities are to be organised (i.e. directors) or those who actually manage or organise activities.A breach will be a “gross breach” under the Bill if it amounts to conduct falling below what can be reasonably expected of the organisation in the circumstances with reference to: a failure to comply with health and safety legislation; the seriousness of the failure; and how much of a risk of death it posed. A jury may also look at activities and practices within the organisation which may have encouraged the failure.The Bill applies to all corporate and some crown bodies including the police but, contrary to the recommendations of the House of Commons’ Select Committees’ Report in December 2005, it will not extend liability to individual directors, managers or officers. Organisations found guilty of an offence will have to pay a fine, the amount of which is unlimited under the Bill.The territorial scope of the Bill has been extended since the March 2005 draft and will not only apply to England and Wales but also Northern Ireland and Scotland (the offence is known as “corporate homicide” in Scotland alone).It has been reported that the Government will consider further the fact that an organisation can only be prosecuted in respect of failings at senior management level, and it will remain to be seen whether the Government proposes to refine other areas of the Bill during its passage through Parliament.If you have any queries in relation to this article or any other regulatory matter, please contact Tristan Meears-White at Watson Burton LLP (telephone 0191 244 4363 or e-mail tristan.meears-white@watsonburton.com) or Helen Scott (helen.scott@watsonburton.com).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .