Corporate Killing

Safety statistics in the UK construction industry make grim reading: construction is now the second most dangerous industry sector in the UK. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 and the existing law of corporate manslaughter have done little to reduce these figures. However, proposals are now well advanced to create a new offence of corporate killing, which will make it easier to convict both organisations and their managers of manslaughter.

The proposals for the new offence of corporate killing are set out in a consultation paper entitled "Reforming the Law of Involuntary Manslaughter", published by the Home Office in May 2000. The new legislation may well be in place by 2003.

Under the new legislation a company can be prosecuted for corporate killing and furthermore, individual officers in that company can also be prosecuted in their personal capacity. Potential sanctions are between five years imprisonment and life imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. In addition, any individual having influence or responsibility for the relevant circumstances could be disqualified from acting in a management role in any business in the UK.

In order to convict a company of corporate killing, proof will be required that:

a management failure by the undertaking was one of the causes of a person's death; and

that failure constituted conduct falling far below what could reasonably be expected of the company in the circumstances.

The risk of causing injury or death does not need to be obvious nor does the defendant need to be capable of appreciating the risk. The corporation may be liable even if the immediate cause of the person's death is the act or omission of an individual.

A management failure will mean a failure in the way that a company manages or organises its activities to ensure the wellbeing of anyone who may be affected. It will...