RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

October 26, 2007
SAFETY CHARITY’S ANGER OVER “LOW” BP DEATH-BLAST FINE

The fine imposed on oil giant BP following the deaths of 15 people in America was described as “outrageous” today by Tom Mullarkey, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

The head of the safety charity said the US Department of Justice had put too low a value on human life when it fined BP $50 million for the environmental crime that led to the blast at the Texas City refinery in 2005.

Although this is the highest fine of its kind levied under the Clean Air Act, the Department imposed a much bigger fine of $303 million for a price manipulation scam between April 2003 and February 2004.

BP admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay fines in return for the US Government ending investigations into price manipulation and not bringing further criminal charges against the company over the deaths of workers in the Texas City explosion. The company accepted a three-year probationary period and pledged to continue co-operation with a government enquiry into the blast.

Tom Mullarkey said: “The Department appears to have got its values all wrong when 15 lives are judged as being worth less than manipulating prices.

“It is outrageous. I hope that lives in the UK never become regarded so cheaply.”

RoSPA has welcomed the new Corporate Manslaughter Act in Britain not just to secure justice for victims, but to make it clear that the full weight of criminal law will be brought to bear on organisations that cause death by behaving recklessly.

The Government has said that the number of corporate manslaughter prosecutions is likely to be small, with the offence being reserved for the very worst cases in which standards have fallen far below what might have been reasonably expected. An organisation guilty of the offence will be liable to an unlimited fine.

“Organisations that already take health and safety seriously will have nothing to fear,” Mr Mullarkey said. “Prevention rather than vengeance needs to be the guiding principle. Let us hope that the threat of prosecution drives under-performing companies to bring their health and safety operations up to scratch.

“But those who do step badly out of line need to know that not only is their corporate reputation under serious threat, but the punishment will fit the crime – that is the least we owe the families of those who have died.”