Guidelines issued for corporate manslaughter employment law

Posted 16/02/2010

The Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) has released details regarding prosecution under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which came into force on April 6th 2008.

As of this week, companies which do not adhere to health and safety regulations and breach their duty of care towards employees will face fines in excess of £500,000, with some businesses at risk of being ordered to pay millions of pounds

The levies will also apply to incidents which happened many years ago if it can be proven that firms committed gross management failures which resulted in injury or death.

Publicity orders will also be given requiring that companies detail any prosecutions in “virtually all cases” of corporate manslaughter.

Experts estimate that there may be a dozen prosecutions a year, but the Health and Safety Executive states that managers can avoid this by regularly reviewing and updating their safety measures.

The new regulations represent a landmark change in employment law.