First Trial under the Corporate Manslaughter Act

The Act

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 was a long time in gestation before it finally made it onto the statute book – coming into force in April 2008.

You can read earlier articles we have published about its introduction at:

The Penalties

Since that time, there has been even more animated debate about the kind and level of penalties that organisations should face if they are found guilty of an offence under the Act. This debate came to a conclusion in February 2010 when the Sentencing Guidelines Council published their definitive guideline on sentencing in relation to the Corporate Manslaughter Act.

In brief, an organisation found guilty of an offence under the Act will be fined. The level of fine depends on a number of factors but the guidelines indicate that it will rarely be less than £500,000. In addition, a publicity order will be imposed in most cases. However, in the early days, it has been suggested that media interest is likely to have a bigger impact on an organisation's reputation than the publicity order itself.

It's worth noting that even now, the guidelines only relate to England and Wales rather than the whole of the UK.

You can view the Sentencing Guidelines on the government website at
http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/guideline_on_corporate_manslaughter.pdf

The government also issued a press release that describes the main points. You can read this at:

First Case

The first fatal accident to be subject to the Corporate Manslaughter Act occurred in September 2008 when a young geologist was killed whilst taking soil samples in a pit. The sides of the pit collapsed and killed the young man.

We published information about this case in another article that you can read at:
http://www.edp-uk.net/corporate_manslaughter_charge.htm

With the introduction of the sentencing guidelines, the scene was set for this case to be heard in court on Tuesday 23rd February 2010.

In the event, the case was adjourned for legal arguments until Friday

Whatever the eventual outcome, the first case under the Corporate Manslaughter Act should be a wakeup call to every organisation to take Health and Safety seriously.

In recent months the whole area of health and safety has been receiving considerable bad press. In fact, most of this criticism has been unfairly targeted at the legislation rather than the misunderstandings and sometimes even lack of common sense on the part of those whose job it is to implement health and safety arrangements.

The Health and Safety executive has been at pains to expose many of the scare stories for the myths that they are. Real health and safety is about saving lives and preventing the devastation that comes to families through serious accidents that could be prevented with a little forethought.

We strongly recommend, therefore, that companies and organisations should take the opportunity for a thorough review to ensure their health and safety policies, procedures and arrangements are fit for purpose.

Contact EDP HS&E Consultants for all your health, safety and environment needs. We can check your current arrangements and advise you about any changes or improvements you need to make.

To discuss your requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call on 01744 766000 or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.

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