John, I suspect the decision was made to go for a s2 HSW prosecution rather than manslaughter because it was considered straightforward to argue that the duty of care had been breached resulting in a death. As I understand it, if the HSE had wanted to go down the manslaughter route then they would have had to hand the case over to the Crown Prosecution Service. As regards the level of fine, according to the HSE press release the accused was self-employed, so the size of the fine would probably have been a significant penalty for him.

I find it so frustrating that their are accidents like this reported almost every week, not all fatal, the high risk just is not registering with so many roofers and odd-job contractors. We need heightened awareness and higher penalties from prosecution which would bring this to employers' attention. Two weeks ago a larger employer/builder has been fined a bit more for safety failings after an employee suffered life changing injuries when he fell through a fragile roof light: http://press.hse.gov.uk/...ll-through-fragile-roof/

Totally agree Ray. WAH is not taken seriously enough by many commercial clients in my experience. They will be red hot were asbestos is concerned but be very poor with WAH. What is likely to be the worst outcome a one off exposure to asbestos or a one-off slip from the edge of a roof or ladder?

Sorry to be pedantic but as this happened in Scotland it would not be manslaughter but culpable homicide. That aside the powers that be seem frightened to test the waters of what might be regarded as manslaughter/culpable homicide(both personal and corporate). This could be that any trial would be in front of a jury with all of the panoply of the law and they might be worried about the costs and any egg on face if it does not work. With actions based on HSWA they know where they are but manslaughter requires that the people responsible were truly negligent which might be difficult to prove to a jury. Personally I think they should go for it and see what happens. As more of these cases came to trial then it would become easy to establish just what constitutes the level of negligence required for a manslaughter charge.

Thanks Jay, This applies to England and Wales only, and the effective date refers to trials after that date, not to offences committed after that date. So if you are awaiting trial and have a date after the 1st of Feb the new guidelines will apply, as they almost cretainly will if you commit an offence now or at any time in the future, John

Our local branch seminar was all about this. The lawyer who did the presentation suggested that the guidelines would lead to more defended trials. There will be less incentive to post an early guilty plea if that might result in a seven or even eight figure fine. Interesting point of view, John