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Corporate criminals at work

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Corporate criminals at work

Manslaughter bill raises question of guilt

After eight years of delays, the government’s publication of a draft manslaughter bill has been welcomed by campaigners and industry bodies, although the decision to target companies but not their directors has caused some consternation. Commenting on the 23 March announcement by Home Secretary Charles Clarke, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'This proposed legislation will help make the workplace safer by providing a new sanction against those organisations who show scant regard for the health and safety of their employees.' He added: 'The TUC recognises that the draft Bill covers a number of complex areas and we are pleased that the government has agreed that the legislation should apply to Crown bodies, but are disappointed that the draft bill does not threaten individual directors with the ultimate sanction of a jail sentence.' Unions Amicus, TGWU and UCATT and campaign group the Centre for Corporate Accountability all called for new directors’ duties - no-one will face jail under the proposals, but companies could face an unlimited fine. The bill has also been criticised for setting the bar too high, restricting corporate manslaughter to circumstances where someone has been killed because a company’s senior management 'grossly fails to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or others.' A jury must also consider whether or not senior managers 'sought to cause the organisation to profit from that failure'. A TUC briefing says it will be calling on the government to include directors’ duties in the corporate manslaughter law or related measures, and says a range of innovative sentencing approaches should be considered to cut the death toll at work from its current unacceptable level of five a week. These include corporate probation and more innovative financial penalties.

What others said about the draft bill…

* Amicus: Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, said: 'Amicus research demonstrates that stronger laws incorporating director liabilities are the greatest determinant of improving employer health and safety standards so we will be seeking to ensure that the legislation allows for individual prosecution. We will also oppose any attempt to make allowances under Crown immunity. An average of five people are killed every week though preventable workplace accidents which is why Amicus will be pushing for introduction of the legislation as early as possible in the new parliament.' Amicus news release.

* TGWU: Tony Woodley, TGWU general secretary, expressed concern 'that the draft bill does not require directors to take positive steps on health and safety. This could mean that the courts will not be able to apply the new offence of corporate manslaughter in instances where individual company directors have neglected to maintain safe workplaces. The draft Bill is a chance to ensure that health and safety is taken more seriously in the boardroom, that workers' health is protected through a culture of prevention and that justice is done when tragedies do occur. We will therefore be pressing for the bill to be amended to deliver this as it passes through Parliament." TGWU news release and corporate killing campaign webpages.

* UCATT: Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction union UCATT, welcomed the proposed law, but added: 'One area that my union will be making representations on is the matter of custodial sentences for company directors.' He added that the government announcement 'makes it clear that criminal liability will not be affected by the proposals. My union believes that more should be done. In the last 30 years only five directors have served a custodial sentence for manslaughter following a work-related death. It is the prospect of a jail sentence that will change the behaviour of company directors not a fine.' UCATT news.

* Prospect: HSE inspectors’ union Prospect welcomed the draft manslaughter bill but said it fell short of government promises. Prospect assistant general secretary Mike Clancy added: 'Safety professionals know that the first line of defence in ensuring workplace health and safety is compliance with workplace safety legislation, policed through regular inspection and enforcement. This draft bill is a welcome addition to that armoury by making rogue employers who flout the law accountable for their actions. However, because the government has dithered for four years in bringing this bill forward, and has only produced it on the eve of a general election, it must be made a priority by any new government in the next parliament.' Prospect news release.

* UNISON: Dave Prentis, general secretary of public sector union UNISON, said: 'This is a tough bill and it has a tough job to do. We want to stop employers evading justice and give the families of those who are killed or injured at work the justice they deserve. When the bill becomes law, it should reduce the number of workers killed or seriously injured at work. Senior managers will have to take their health and safety responsibilities more seriously and won't be able to shirk their responsibilities by passing blame down the line.' UNISON news release.

* GMB: Debbie Coulter of general union GMB said: 'Companies that fail to protect the lives of their employees will now be rightly punished if deaths occur. This legislation will give a huge boost to health and safety in every workplace, and minimise the needless fatalities that happen all too often in British industry. If employers are taking the right precautions, they will have nothing to worry about. It's the slack bosses, the corner-cutters and the cowboys who should be sweating right now - the buck will soon stop with them.' GMB news release.

* CCA: Centre for Corporate Accountability director David Bergman questioned 'the fact that a jury must consider whether or not senior managers ‘sought to cause the organisation to profit from that failure’. This evidence is extremely difficult to obtain and absence of evidence will be used by organisations to show that their conduct was not grossly negligent.' He added: 'We are concerned that organisations could delegate their responsibilities down the management chain and thereby allow the organisation to escape manslaughter prosecution' and said 'there has been a failure to consider the criminal liability of company directors… the government has not come up with any alternative mechanisms to deal with the lack of accountability for company directors - an issue that the government itself considered a concern in its original consultation document in 2000.' CCA news release and related manslaughter webpage.

* IOSH: Safety officers’ professional body IOSH said the draft bill 'doesn’t go far enough.' It said: 'We welcome this draft Bill as an important starting point and will be examining it closely and carefully before giving our considered response. However, our initial response is that it should cover all employing organisations and that the test applied for establishing gross management failure should not be dependent on proving the organisation sought to profit from the failure to comply with health and safety requirements.' IOSH news release.

Shell guilty over gas leak deaths

Oil giant Shell has admitted three safety charges over the deaths of two workers in the North Sea two years ago. Sean McCue and Keith Moncrieff died on the Brent Bravo platform after being overcome by gas while working on pipes in a leg of the installation (Risks 135 and Risks 124). This week, Stonehaven Sheriff Court heard Shell admit to three breaches of health and safety rules. Sentence, which is likely to be a substantial fine, has been deferred until later this month. The charges included failing to carry out suitable repairs to a gas leak in the platform's leg and failing to ensure the safety of the two men. Graham Tran, offshore workers’ officer with the union Amicus, said: 'Amicus welcomes the guilty pleas but we are fearful the penalties may not provide sufficient punishment and deterrent for the loss of two lives.' He added: 'It's not only vital that we have corporate manslaughter legislation, it's also vital that it is absolutely watertight and imposes the most severe penalties, including jail terms, on those senior people who have responsibility for ensuring the highest health and safety standards for their workers.' Amicus was part of a delegation to the Health and Safety Executive in Aberdeen in March 2003 when it raised concerns about a lack of maintenance and other issues on Shell platforms and in particular the Brent Field, including Brent Bravo. It said it was worrying that no strong action was taken at that time and then only five months later Mr McCue and Mr Moncrieff died.

Small fry face jail, big cheeses let off

Some bosses will serve jail time for serious safety offences - but it continues to be those running small firms that face a custodial sentence rather than their generally better resourced and better renumerated blue chip equivalents, none of whom have ever faced imprisonment for workplace safety offences. In March, garage manager Glen Hawkins started a nine-month prison sentence for manslaughter, after his gross negligence led to the death of trainee mechanic Lewis Murphy. Hawkins had helped the 18-year-old trainee pour a mix of petrol and diesel into a waste oil tank at the Anchor Garage, Peacehaven. Fumes were sucked into the flue of a recently installed boiler sparking a massive fireball on February 18 last year, killing Mr Murphy and injuring Hawkins. Garage owner Howard Hawkins, Greg Hawkins’ father, was fined £10,000 for failing to ensure the safety of his employees. He was told he would be jailed for six months if he failed to pay the fine and was also ordered to pay £15,000 towards prosecution costs of £54,000. Only 11 company directors have ever been convicted of manslaughter following a work-related death and of those 11 convictions just five directors were imprisoned. Of the remaining six directors convicted of manslaughter, five received suspended sentences and one was given community service.

You’ve nothing to fear, HSC boss tells business

Bill Callaghan, chair of the Health and Safety Commission, says he wants to eradicate what he sees as the 'unreasonable' fear of official HSE health and safety inspectors among businesses. He said there are 3.7m businesses in the UK and just 1,500 HSE inspectors. 'We cannot investigate every company. In fact, the perception that we are over-zealous with our guidelines and rules is wrong.' He said the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act requires employers to take steps to protect staff where 'reasonably practicable'. Callaghan told The Telegraph that companies will have the opportunity to avoid any suggestion of over-enthusiasm for safety by calling two dedicated helplines, the privately-run HSE Infoline and the National Mediation Helpline. However, Risks was told by the National Mediation Helpline that it could not in fact help with enquiries about the reasonableness or otherwise of safety measures.

Dismay at delay to Scots corporate killing law

Campaigners have expressed concern at the shock announcement that the Scottish Executive consultation on corporate killing has been delayed. Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, came under fire from unions and safety campaigners after this week dropping the commitment to publish a consultation paper on introducing into Scottish law an offence of corporate culpable homicide. Ms Jamieson told Karen Gillon, the Clydesdale Labour MSP who has been campaigning for the new offence, that she was instead setting up an 'expert working group' to consider the matter further. Ian Tasker, STUC safety specialist, said: 'The STUC are extremely disappointed that, despite having a written assurance from the Scottish Executive that the delay, at that time, in introducing the draft bill in England and Wales would not have an adverse impact in their proposals to consult on this issue there has now been a significant about turn. We have to question the motives for this course of action'. He added: 'While we agree that this may be a complex issue there has ample opportunity to form a panel of experts in the past as the STUC and a number of our affiliates have raised this matter with the minister on a number of occasions'. Unions have been demanding legislation for years, in the wake of accidents including the 1988 Piper Alpha oil rig fire which killed 167 workers. No-one was convicted of safety offences related to the disaster, despite the highly critical findings of an official enquiry.

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