Up until now it has been virtually impossible in the UK to prosecute large companies for management failures leading to deaths. All that is about to change as the UK Government’s Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 passes into law.For security professionals the implications are unclear. What if a death occurs as a result of an incorrect security decision or a bad or non-existent security procedures?
Workplace Law has produced a primer on the Act, which can be purchased from their website at a cost of £41.11:
http://www.workplacelaw.net/eshop/product_info.php?product_id=601
A good explanation of the factors which led to the legislation can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4537053.stm
Critics argue that the Act fails to provide extraterritorial jurisdiction. This means there will be certain circumstances where corporate manslaughter legislation does not apply. If a company is managed in England and a fatality occurs on a site abroad, then the legislation will not apply. If the same way, if a British employee travelled to a foreign site and suffered a suffered a fatality, corporate manslaughter charges could not be brought.
A further problem with the legislation is that if an injury that causes death happens in the UK and the company is based abroad it is unlikely that a prosecution would occur. It is unlikely that managers would be extradited to face prosecution so corporate manslaughter charges would be avoided.
