(UK) MPs have called for a tightening up of the proposed new offence of corporate manslaughter, to ensure justice for relatives of workers killed due to employer negligence.' I" c+ X7 S) C+ ]: w0 N
The draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill, is designed to make good a long-standing Labour commitment to punish companies whose failure to meet health and safety standards leads to the death of workers.0 y; Y- v: F( N4 }+ T- K$ i+ z
But a joint report by the House of Commons home affairs and work & pensions committees has warned that the Bill, as currently drafted, may let some big firms off the hook and create "perverse" incentives to treat health and safety less seriously.
9 I; O+ K: ~- G The report revealed divisions within the cross-party committees, with Conservatives voting against a recommendation, backed by the Labour majority, for directors and managers to be prosecuted as individuals with a maximum penalty of 14 years' jail.6 D) z# z; B& u9 L
The draft Bill targets gross failings by the senior management of an organisation, rather than focusing on the wrong-doing of one individual at the top of the company.
4 w! ], _6 l$ C5 a* W But the report urged the Government to introduce an additional offence of "secondary liability for corporate manslaughter" to be used against individuals personally responsible for the organisation's failing." W# Z, N( n2 T, C9 D/ ]* k
It also strongly criticised the wording of a key clause in the Bill, which currently makes companies liable to prosecution only for deaths caused by the negligence of "senior managers".
- H4 y( T- O; R) q The MPs argued that this created a "perverse incentive" for senior directors to delegate decisions on health and safety to more junior staff in order to avoid the danger of prosecution.) `: m6 T) N! X* d3 Q8 x
And it might mean large corporations escaping prosecution over a death at one of a number of factories or sites, while a smaller company with only one factory would find itself in court over an identical incident.
' D0 w& d2 t% |# o9 Y3 j! e The report said that juries should instead be asked to decide whether "management failure" was to blame for the death |