Corporate Manslaughter

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Corporate Manslaughter

What is corporate manslaughter?

Corporate manslaughter is a crime that can be committed by a company

in relation to a work-related death.

The offence is intrinsically linked to whether a director or senior

manager - a "controlling mind and will" of the company - is guilty of

manslaughter.

If the director or manager is found guilty, the company is guilty; if

the director or manager is found innocent, the company is innocent.

Is it difficult to prosecute?

Proving corporate manslaughter has been notoriously difficult in the

past.

This is because the law requires that a director or senior manager is

prosecuted before the company - a separate legal entity - can be

prosecuted.

But it is difficult to prosecute directors or senior managers of large

companies - even though there may be some very serious failures on the

part of the company or individuals - for a number of reasons

including:

· Large companies will often delegate safety decisions to managers low

down the hierarchy or to outside companies

· The law does not impose any positive duty upon company directors to

take action to ensure that their company complies with health and

safety law.

Have any large companies been prosecuted?

There have only been two large companies that have been prosecuted for

manslaughter - and both cases failed.

· P&O European Ferries and two directors were acquitted of the

manslaughter of 192 people who died when the Herald of Free Enterprise

sank off the coast of Zeebrugge in May 1987 after it had left port

with its bow doors open

The trial collapsed in its early stages when the judge ruled there was

insufficient evidence against any director or senior manager.

· Great Western Trains was cleared of the manslaughter of seven people

who died in the Southall Train Crash in 1997.

The Crown Prosecution Service tried to prosecute the company without

prosecuting any individual director or manager.

The court ruled that the case could not go ahead on this basis.

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