Posted By Decimomal How come I posted this on the members forum and it has ended up here? Not wishing to offend anybody, I was after responses from those who might be more in the know on the subject. (Retreats at this point for hard hat having probably now offended everybody!!).

Posted By Andrew Kurdziel Right Corporate Manslaughter- under the old common law an organisation could only be prosecuted if there is a ’controlling mind’ , ie somebody who is in charge and can take the wrap. In large organisations such the Herald of Free Enterprise, case nobody in the senior levels of Townsend-Thoresen could be described as ‘in charge’ and so the company could not be prosecuted. By contrast, if the company was a small one-man band, it was easy to get at the company, because it was obvious who was in charge. This was seen as unfair as it meant if you were big enough, the company could get away with it and the small businesses got clobbered. Under the new act their must be a failure in the way in which an organisation’s activities are managed or organised by its senior management, which amount to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care, and cause a person’s death. Therefore there is no need to pin the blame on an individual, senior management as a whole being at fault, so it should be easier to prosecute large organisations. Other points to note are: 1. Despite what some people say the act creates no new duties as the relevant duties of care are the existing ones, so if a company run a good H&S system already then it should be ok, but if it has poor systems the punishment if they lead to a death might be more severe. 2. The act only effects organisations eg companies and government departments not individuals. Individuals, if they could be held responsible could still be prosecuted under the old common law for manslaughter. What all this means in practice is hard to say. We have one case going through the courts but it seems to involve a one-man band type operation. What need is a case involving a large company, where can find out what words like ‘senior management’ really mean.