Manslaughter law 'won't change attitudes to safety'

Speaking at a conference in London, examining the Corporate Manslaughter Bill, Norwich Union's casualty risk manager Phil Grace said much had been made of the impact the new law would have on business attitudes towards health and safety.

"Some have talked up this legislation as if it were the 'Holy Grail' of health and safety. It's as if suddenly, because companies can be prosecuted for manslaughter, they are going to wake up from a stupor of negligence and adopt a much more stringent attitude towards workplace risks.

"This attitude appears to ignore the fact that there are already laws in place to ensure health and safety at work, and that the vast majority of employers already take their responsibilities seriously."

Phil went on to explain that companies could already be prosecuted for manslaughter, but that the charge had been brought very infrequently because of the difficulties associated with achieving a guilty verdict.

He believes that with the need to establish "gross management failure" in the case of a corporate manslaughter, trials for the new offence will also be uncommon.

"Gross negligence requires a very high degree of guilt, and most of the time, I am glad to say, companies are not grossly negligent," he said.

Few prosecutions expected

Also, without the prospect of more stringent punishments - for example, it being impossible to imprison a corporate entity - the argument that the new law will act as a deterrent "falls flat".

"We have recently seen large companies receiving fines approaching £10 million following the most high-profile of fatal accidents. I would not expect corporate manslaughter legislation to push these penalties any higher," said Phil.

He added that recent discussions with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had suggested that the new law would only be used in the most high-profile cases, and that there would only be around a dozen trials per year at the most.

Overall he said that companies taking their health and safety responsibilities seriously had "nothing to fear" from the new corporate manslaughter legislation, in its current form.

At the same time he stressed that all commercial operations ran the risk of fatal accidents, and that they needed to be responsible about protecting their employees and members of the public.

"Good employers focus on minimising risk in the workplace, not on a defensive approach where they simply try to cover their backs. That is not managing risk," he said.

Phil added that he did not see his advice to clients on risk management changing at all once the Bill was enacted.

What's your view? Do you think that new corporate manslaughter legislation will make any difference? Click on the feedback link above/right and express your opinion.