The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act came into force on 6 April 2008 and applies to deaths that have occurred since that date.  The new Act does not place any new duties or obligations on a business and the offences under the Health and Safety Act 1974 and gross negligence manslaughter continue to apply to individuals.  The new Act targets the corporate management of health and safety and provides for companies to be prosecuted through the criminal courts if the way in which they manage and organise their activities results in a gross breach of their duty of care and causes a person's death.

 

To comply with the Act a business should at the very least have a proper health and safety management system in place and that system should undergo regular reviews.  The system should include details of the manner in which the company's activities are managed and organised at a senior level and they should be strictly enforced.  The system must ensure that all health and safety responsibilities are dealt with in an appropriate manner and the person responsible at each level should be clearly identified.

 

There is guidance available from bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive and Institute of Directors and this should be considered and where possible used and referred to in the management system.  General policies, systems and accepted practices within a company's field of activity will come under close scrutiny and will not automatically protect the company from prosecution.

 

The Institute of Directors and the Health and Safety Executive have published guidance for directors and board members on their responsibilities under the health and safety legislation and this can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website at www.hse.gov.uk

 

Those firms who take their health and safety obligations seriously, regularly review their management system and are vigilant in ensuring compliance are not likely to find themselves in breach of the new provisions.

 

Contacts:

 

Luke Rees

 

Lesley Purveur