Part 1: The need for new legislation

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act means that for the first time companies, and some other organisations, can be found guilty of manslaughter as a result of serious management failures.

Currently a single individual identifiable as the "directing mind" of a company must be personally guilty of gross negligence or manslaughter before an organisation itself can be convicted of manslaughter.

As a result, it has only been possible - until now - to bring a successful corporate manslaughter case if it could be shown that one person, who was a "controlling mind" of the company, had committed either reckless or grossly negligent acts or omissions leading to a fatal incident.

The larger the company, the more difficult this test was to apply. In fact, there have been very few successful prosecutions and those that have succeeded have all been against small companies.

Put simply, the idea behind the new offence of corporate manslaughter in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and corporate homicide in Scotland, is to make it easier for organisations to be prosecuted for manslaughter.

They can be found guilty of manslaughter if the way their "senior management" organises or manages their activities causes death, and this amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to the deceased - overcoming the obstacle of having to find a "controlling mind".

The law will not only apply to limited companies, but to public sector bodies such as local authorities, NHS Trusts, Crown Bodies and most Government departments.

The police will investigate suspected cases. Prosecution decisions will be made by the Crown Prosecution Service (England and Wales), the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (Scotland) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (Northern Ireland). There will be a "joint approach" to work-related deaths between all the relevant regulatory authorities, including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) - see 'Work related deaths - A protocol for liaison' (pdf) here.

"Senior management" are those who play a significant role in making decisions about how an organisation's activities are managed, or who are involved in the actual management of such activities...