I presume lots of people have seen this, but for those that have not http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...gloucestershire-12468535 Its the news that a Gloucestershire firm has become the first company to be convicted under the corporate manslaughter legislation. Brian

We shall see if the sentence will actually give this legislation the teeth it should have.

Indeed, time will tell.....? This was a small company and as many of us are aware, existing legislation would have dealt with this tragic incident.

SHP cover the latest here: http://www.shponline.co....delivers-385-000-penalty

The level of the fine is interesting. I've seen many other fatalities, for much larger companies, dealt with by way of fines around £10k-£50k. Are they a) better at creative accounting? b) does the new offence come with a completely new scale of fines for the judge to follow? c) did the failure of the Cotswold Geotech director to appear in court result in a higher fine? Mitigation was argued in relation to his illness and financial state of the company but I just wonder if a personal appearance might have allowed the judge to see the personal face of the business and not just the legal team. On the evidence I've seen reported, the conviction was correct but I wouldn't be surprised if the fine was appealed or the business simply goes under to avoid it. On a related note, did Cotswold have a website? They have to publish details on their if they do but I'm not sure what timescale they are allowed. Tried searching but the news articles are filling the search engine returns.

I may be wrong but other info I have read about this act in general suggested to me that the fines should be starting around the £500k mark and more likely should be measured in millions, which is not the case in this instance (possibly due to relatively small organisation?). Any thoughts?

I note that Law-Now made the following statement at the end of an article on this subject: "On the strength of yesterday’s sentencing, it certainly seems that fines in their millions will occur in the not too distant future." Well let's hope not! Because if that happens it will be following a major disaster in which people are likely to have lost their lives. We have been very lucky (I think) to avoid the repetition of the failures we experienced toward the end of last century and we certainly do not need another one...

ahoskins I totally agree - while we need to punish the guilty lets not wish for a major mistake. And as for £38,500 a year I am one CMIOSH among many I suspect who's pay is way below that figure. Brian

A meagre punishment made worse in that it is to be paid over 10 years. To make matters even worse the company does not have to pay any costs! Nothing will change until directors of organisations are held personally to account for their actions/omissions. Directors of larger organisations seem to be able to hide and divest themselves of any responsibility. It is a start I suppose but there is a long way to go.

Phil, you are quite correct that directors have been found guilty and sent to prison following deaths at work. However, these are directors of small organisations. Upon re-reading my post I seem to have not been explicit enough and I apologise for being ambiguous. I should have stated "Nothing will change until directors of LARGE organisations are held personally to account for their actions/omissions". It is exceptionally difficult for a director in a large organisation to be found responsible in a court of law. The CPS/HSE/Police have tried in the past but with little success. I don't want to single out any particular organisation. Recently a company with a turnover of £1.6 billion was fined following an incident. The fine was £6,000. However, this was the second time this 'accident' had occurred. £6,000 from £1.6 billion is nothing. £6,000 for a company with a £100,000 turnover is significant and potentially enough to close down that business. It is not an easy decision for a judge to fine a company. They have to operate under quite strict guidelines; failure to do so can and does result in their decisions being overturned by the next higher court. And the CPS must act within 'the public interest'. Do the CPS/Courts want to see a company made bankrupt because of a H&S fine? Is the cost of one employee's life worth say the livelihoods of 20 people? I don't envy the decisions that need to be made under the present framework and it is easy for me to be critical. Is there a solution? Would is be possible to hold a director of a FTSE 100 company personally liable for the death of a worker because of their work? How many levels through the chain of command can direct responsibility go? All I know is that it is fundamentally wrong for someone to die because of their work, and that I must do my utmost to try and prevent this from happening in my organisation by ensuring the risks workers face is assessed and controls put in place. On a positive note this case has hopefully given the victim's family some sense of closure.