Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

When and Who?

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (the “Act”) comes into force on 6 April 2008 and will apply to all companies, limited liability partnerships, public bodies, local authorities, partnerships (provided they are employers), government bodies and the police force.  Therefore, all employers will need to be aware of their organisations liabilities under this Act.

Why a new Act?

The Act will make it easier for the authorities to prosecute organisations where deaths are caused due to bad management.  Before the Act, the prosecution had to prove liability by identifying the management individuals responsible.  This meant that it was difficult to successfully prosecute large organisations with complicated management structures.

Now, an organisation will be guilty of an offence under the Act if the way its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed. 

Duty of care?

All organisations owe a duty of care under the law of negligence to employees or other persons working for the organisation (e.g. consultants, contractors, volunteers).  It is therefore an employer’s duty to provide a safe system of work for its employees.

An organisation also owes a duty of care in its everyday business.  For example, a transport provider owes a duty of care to its passengers and a shop owner owes a duty of care to its customers for the safety of its products.

If an organisation is found to have caused a death due to a gross breach of their duty of care through the way they manage or organise their activities, the organisation can be prosecuted for Corporate Manslaughter.

What is the penalty for Corporate Manslaughter?

As the prosecution will now be focused on the organisation itself, there can be no penalty of imprisonment.  Therefore the penalty will be a monetary fine and this can be of an unlimited amount. 

Other extra penalties can include a remedial order which will force the organisation to change its practices and a publicity order which will force the organisation to make public its conviction of corporate manslaughter.

Steps to be taken by you

Ultimately, the most important step to be taken by you as an employer is to ensure that the way you manage or organise your activities does not breach your duty of care to your employees or your customers. You must also make certain that you are complying with all of your duties under the current Health and Safety legislation. 

It would also be now wise to review your organisation’s liability insurance to check that your legal costs could be recovered, if you are prosecuted under this new legislation.