Corporate manslaughter bill receives first Commons reading

The corporate manslaughter bill was given its first reading at the House of Commons today (Friday 21 July). The legislation has been keenly awaited by construction industry union UCATT.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill will make organisations liable for any incident resulting from activities managed or organised by their senior managers that causes a person's death, or which amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased.

Under current legislation, before a company can be convicted for manslaughter, a “directing mind” of the organisation [a senior individual who can be said to embody the company in its actions and decisions] must also be found guilty of the offence. This had led to the collapse of an attempt to bring charges against Balfour Beatty with regard to the Hatfield disaster.

UCATT, together with manufacturing union Amicus, has been campaigning for the change in legislation for some time. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber also welcomed the bill, saying it had been "a long time coming" but should "make it easier to bring prosecutions against companies whose negligence has contributed to the deaths of employees or members of the public".

The new legislation will apply to corporations, departments and public bodies such as the Treasury an the Home Office and paves the way for unlimited fines.

However, fines will only be issued to organisations and will not apply to directors or individuals within the company in question.