RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

November 11, 2002
SAFETY ORGANISATIONS CONFIDENT THAT GOVERNMENT WILL ACT ON CORPORATE KILLINGS

The UK’s three major safety organisations today reaffirmed their confidence in the Government’s commitment to introduce a new offence of “corporate killing” in the next session of Parliament.

RoSPA, the British Safety Council and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health are seriously concerned about the effect of recent press reports and media speculation that there will be no mention of the enactment of a new offence of corporate killing in the Queen’s Speech this week.

While RoSPA, British Safety Council and IOSH feel strongly that enforcement is only part of the recipe for better safety at work, they are even more disturbed by the rumour that corporate killing has been dropped, thus sending the wrong signal, especially to those organisations which are still adopting a dangerously lax approach to health and safety management.

In October 1997, in the light of the lessons of the major disasters of the two previous decades, the incoming Labour Government committed itself to reform the law of involuntary manslaughter. After a long period of debate and consultation, a clear consensus has now emerged that a new offence is required to ensure that companies, as opposed to their directors, can be prosecuted following work-related deaths which are due to corporate conduct which falls far below that which could be reasonably expected.

Although the new offence would not introduce any new substantive duties on employers, the Home Office is nevertheless conducting a routine Regulatory Impact Assessment to gauge reaction to the proposal from businesses and other stakeholders.

It appears that this work may not have been completed in time for the Queen’s Speech. As representatives of health and safety professionals and businesses committed to high safety standards, RoSPA, BSC and IOSH are writing to David Blunkett, urging the Government to press ahead with introduction of the new offence as soon as possible, for example, by including it possibly in one of the criminal justice bills likely to be announced on Wednesday.