Issue 1 – January 2008

Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007

On 6 April 2008 the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007 will be brought into force, leaving developers and contractors in particular open to prosecution outside of the existing health and safety legislation if somebody for whom they are responsible is killed.

Whilst we are assured that the Act is not going to run wholly in tandem with the existing health and safety legislation in the event of a fatality, it is difficult to see how this will not be the case when one takes a closer look at the published guidance.

In deciding upon its verdict, the jury is expected to analyse whether the health and safety legislation has been breached, how serious the breach was, and what was the foreseeable risk posed by the breach.

It is at least theoretically (let us hope not practically) possible for a company to be prosecuted under both the Corporate Manslaughter Act and the existing Health and Safety legislation, leading to two fines.

In the last day or so, the Sentencing Advisory Panel has announced that fines on a guilty verdict under the Corporate Manslaughter Act will be between 2.5% and 10% of global turnover, depending on the seriousness of the breach.

The good news for directors is that prosecution of a company under the Act does not depend on the simultaneous prosecution of an individual; it does not, however, preclude it either!