On 26th July 2007 it was announced in the House of Commons that the Queen has signified her Royal Assent to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

A copy of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 can be downloaded in pdf form at:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/ukpga_20070019_en.pdf

The new Act creates a dedicated offence called “corporate manslaughter” in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and “corporate homicide” in Scotland. In essence, the offence is committed where an organisation owes a duty to take reasonable care for a person's safety, but the way in which its activities have been managed or organised amounts to a gross breach of that duty and causes death. To convict a company, the prosecution must prove that the failure came substantially from “senior management” (“senior management” being defined in the Act as “persons who play significant roles in…the making of decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of [the company’s] activities are to be managed or organised, or the actual managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part of those activities”).

The management failure must amount to a “gross breach” of the duty of care and the new law asks whether the conduct falls far below what could reasonably have been expected of the organisation in the circumstances. There are a number of factors for the jury to take into account when considering this issue, for example whether the organisation failed to comply with any relevant health and safety legislation and, if it did, how serious that failure was. The Act says the jury may also consider “the extent to which the evidence shows that there were attitudes, policies, systems or accepted practices within the organisation” – in other words, the corporate culture.

The sanctions facing those convicted under the Act include an unlimited fine and also remedial orders (the latter allowing the courts to order an organisation convicted under the new Act to take steps to remedy the management failure which led to death). It is also possible for the court to impose a “publicity order”, publicising the details of the conviction and the amount of any fine.

After Royal Assent was signified, Lord Hunt of Wirall said: "It is sad that it has taken 12 debates over a period of almost six months for the government to concede that a duty of care is owed to those held in custody, and that all - including the government - should be subject to the same test of the law. The Lords are to be commended on their resilience in upholding this profound principle in a series of extraordinary and compassionate debates."

Justice minister Maria Eagle described the Act as “a groundbreaking piece of legislation” and said “The Act is about ensuring justice for victims of corporate failures. For too long, it has been virtually impossible to prosecute large companies for management failures leading to deaths. Today’s Act changes this.”

Members of our Health & Safety and Regulatory Law team are happy to advise on any matters arising out of the new legislation.