Charges against Railtrack executives were dropped

A draft bill will introduce a new offence of corporate manslaughter for cases when death takes place because of management failure.

The current manslaughter law has faced criticism for making it difficult to bring companies to account.

However, any implementation of the bill is likely to be delayed.

Delay

The government said it would only publish the bill in draft, meaning it has no commitment to turn it into law.

We will not stop until companies are made accountable for their actions that result in deaths or injuries at work Derek Simpson, Amicus

With a General Election looming next year, only a select few of the bills proposed in the Queen's speech will actually be heard in Parliament.

And what happens to the bill on corporate manslaughter will depend entirely on whether the Labour government is re-elected or not.

"A draft bill represents serious slippage in terms of time," said Derek Simpson, general secretary of trade union Amicus.

"We had expected a corporate manslaughter bill in the Parliament just gone or at least before the election."

"We will not stop until companies are made accountable for their actions that result in deaths or injuries at work."

Controlling mind

The proposed reforms are part of a drive to modernise the criminal justice system.

The offence of "corporate killing" will make it easier to prosecute a company, or other employing organisation, for a homicide offence.

Under current laws, the outcome of a case depends on whether or not a director or senior manager of a company for manslaughter can be found liable.

This requires evidence of "gross negligence", and without that there is no case against a company.

At present, unless a senior manager can be found guilty of manslaughter a company can get away without facing charges.

The new draft proposals are designed to make the "controlling mind" of the company accountable for manslaughter, by focusing on potentially wider management failings within an organisation.

Tragedy

One recent incident involving possible corporate manslaughter charges came following the Hatfield train crash in October 2000.

After the tragedy, in which four people died, charges were brought against former Railtrack boss Gerald Corbett and two other executives.

The charges were dropped at the High Court in September this year, but the case highlighted growing concerns that companies were not being held accountable for health and safety issues.

Under the draft bill, the new offence would be clearly linked to existing health and safety requirements, and the government has promised that no new regulatory burdens would be created.