RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

January 21, 2006
CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER BILL WELCOMED

Companies which pay scant regard to managing health and safety are on notice as the Government finally publishes its Bill to reform the law so corporations can be successfully prosecuted for manslaughter following work-related deaths.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), together with other safety bodies, has campaigned for the law to be changed, not just to secure justice for victims but to make it clear that the full weight of criminal law will be brought to bear on organisations which cause death by behaving recklessly.

“This is not an agenda of vengeance, however,” said Roger Bibbings, RoSPA’s Occupational Safety Adviser. “It is about drawing a line in the sand and strengthening the motivation of all organisations to assure themselves that they have effective health and safety risk management systems in place.”

While the new offence will target organisations and not their directors as individuals, director behaviour in relation to health and safety will now come under much greater scrutiny than ever before.

RoSPA welcomes moves by the Health and Safety Commission to enhance its existing guidance on the health and safety responsibilities of directors (INDG343).

Roger Bibbings said: “While prosecutions for corporate manslaughter will be limited to cases where standards had fallen far below what might have been reasonably expected, directors should not forget that other workplace deaths due to failures in duties of care will still be prosecuted under Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. In this context, there is every possibility that the Health and Safety Executive will be prosecuting directors as well - under Section 37 of the Act - where it is clear that such individuals had failed manifestly to play their part in the prevention process.”

RoSPA is continuing to focus on this issue as part of its “Going Public on Performance” (GoPOP) programme and will be looking even more closely at director engagement in health and safety as part of its Health and Safety Awards.

With the new Bill coming before Parliament, Roger Bibbings said: “Now is the time for all organisations to check out their governance arrangements for health and safety risk management and to learn from the good practice of businesses which have established themselves as clear leaders in this field.”

Information on RoSPA’s awards can be found at www.rospa.com/awards. Details of GoPOP are at www.gopop.org.uk