date: 3 March 2006

embargo: Immediate release

Corporate killing law must give negligent employers no hiding place

The draft corporate killing bill published last year must be strengthened otherwise employers with scant regard for the health and safety of their staff and the public will continue to evade punishment, says a story published today (Friday) in the TUC-backed safety magazine Hazards.

Writing in the Spring issue of the magazine, corporate killing expert Dave Whyte thinks that if the bill that is due to cover employers in England and Wales becomes law in its present form, it will continue to allow reckless bosses off the hook. This reinforces comments made by a House of Commons Select Committee who looked at the bill and reached similar conclusions. The Government is due to respond to the Select Committee report next week.

Dave Whyte says that the bill needs to be made stronger otherwise senior managers guilty of safety crimes will be able to continue to hide behind their companies when things go wrong.

He also dismisses the arguments put forward by employers as to why changing the law on corporate killing makes no sense. Employer groups say that beefing up our safety laws would see many companies packing up their bags and departing from our shores, but this is not the experience of either the Canadian or Australian economies after they introduced tough, new corporate killing laws.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'With the poor safety record of UK firms, UK workers are crying out for a new law which would force company bosses to take their safety responsibilities more seriously. The Bill's publication was a good first step but it needs to go much further if it is too really make a difference.

' We welcome the decision by the Health and safety Commission to look at ways of increasing the responsibility of individual senior managers for safety crimes. If that were coupled with significant new resources to allow the Health and Safety Executive to properly investigate every death at work, it would really make reckless bosses sit up and listen.'

Stirling University Criminologist Dave Whyte, said: 'Companies and their directors continue to kill hundreds of their employees and members of the public each year with impunity. The government's Draft Bill in its current form will not allow criminal senior managers and directors to be prosecuted and according to the government's own estimates only five prosecutions of companies each year will result from the new law. The Draft Bill is an insult to the countless families seeking justice after serious offences have been committed by employers. '

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- the full Hazards article is available at: www.hazards.org/deadlybusiness

- Two of the 'fatal flaws' that the article finds in the government's Draft Bill for a corporate manslaughter law in England and Wales are:

o The maximum penalty would be an unlimited fine, even a massive increase in the current levels of fines would only hurt smaller firms.

o Alternative penalties such as equity fines and adverse publicity orders aren't included in the proposals.

- Hazards magazine is published quarterly. For subscription enquiries or orders contact Jawad Qasrawi on 0114 201 4265 sub@hazards.org

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley T: 020 7467 1248; M: 07881 622416 ; E: bhurley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (600 words) issued 3 Mar 2006