(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.% Z+ h0 M% l: z6 Y4 H9 q* }
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.9 N3 W: `+ C& G+ |9 M; E
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.) x% G, P1 X; ~, h5 K
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.; M) \( ~8 m3 {0 w2 G
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.: I% {) O* W, c. F8 l
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.* E2 O8 _4 N% b8 Y" A
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".
% b" ?+ X9 ]( u+ e; f- s 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.
( o4 B5 R1 Z& w 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.) A* }( t8 j: B. z" c' N. {
The report said that juries should instead be asked to decide whether "management failure" was to blame for the death |
发表于 2012-8-16 08:34:12
