Are you ready for the new Corporate Manslaughter Legislation?

Alan Vincent, senior partner at law firm Vincents, gives advice on how to stay ahead of the new laws

Early April 08 saw the introduction of ‘Corporate Manslaughter’ into UK legislation. Companies, Partnerships and Multi Manager Traders will all be affected as they all have a duty of care to their employees. The legislation also affects government bodies, trusts, hospitals and trade unions and effectively will apply to any body of people that employs others to work on its behalf.

And if a death is caused while in your employment, and you are in breach of that duty of care, then potentially you expose yourself to a Corporate Manslaughter charge.

If in future there is a failure of Health and Safety systems which can be described as a “gross breach” of that duty of care and that systematic failure and breach of duty can be ascribed to “Senior Management”, then your organisation will be exposed to prosecution.

In assessing gross breach a jury will have to consider whether the evidence shows the company’s conduct falls far below that which could reasonably have been expected of it. The factors that will be taken into account are:

· Did the Company comply with HSE Legislation and guidelines?

· How serious was the failure and was the injury caused by the failure the cause of death and was injury itself a real risk?

· What evidence is there of attitude of the employer to Heath and Safety systems practices and regulations?

· Did the employer plan, deliver, monitor and review its Health and Safety procedures.

Health and Safety clearly needs to be very high on the employer’s agenda that should be dealt with at the highest level.

Guidelines and attention to detail should be handed down from the board or from the highest level of management in order that an audit trail proves the employer takes Health and Safety as seriously as is expected.

You can use this plan to set about forming your own workplace policy:

Step 1 Plan

The board should set the direction for effective health and safety management and establish a Health & Safety Policy that is much more than a document – it should be an integral part of your organisation’s culture, of its values and performance standards.

Step 2 Deliver

Delivery depends on an effective management system to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees, customers and members of the public.

Step 3 Monitor

Monitoring and reporting are vital parts of a health and safety culture. Management systems must allow the board to receive both specific and routine reports on the performance of the Health & Safety policy.

Step 4 Review

A formal boardroom review of health and safety performance is essential. It allows the board to establish whether the essential health and safety principles – strong and active leadership, worker involvement and assessment and review – have been embedded in the organisation.

Vincents is a leading North West legal practice, with 5 office locations, in and around, Lancashire.