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Monday, 14 July 2008 10:21 |
 At the risk of sounding unnecessarily alarming, we would not be taking our role as a conscientious access solutions provider seriously, if we did not bring to everyone’s notice important legislation as and when it came into being. So here goes - we start with a very important Act affecting all companies and organisations.
This April seems the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and with it responsibilities that if flouted result in unlimited fines.
The Corporate Manslaughter Act, (as it is to be called in England, Wales and Northern Ireland), and the Corporate Homicide Act (in Scotland) can for the first time find companies and organisations guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures, resulting in a gross breach of a relevant duty of care. This specifically relates to serious management failures of health and safety resulting in a fatality.To be clear about this, prosecutions will be of the corporate body and not individuals, but the liability of directors, board members or other individuals under health and safety law or general criminal law, will be unaffected. Similarly, the corporate body and individuals can still be prosecuted for separate health and safety offences. So this Act adds a further, new element, rather than replacing any legislation already in place.
If, as a company or organisation, you already have a strong company culture where health and safety awareness and compliance is concerned then you probably comply with this new law anyway. If however this is an area you keep meaning to improve upon, get around to, or just generally find out more about, then you may want to sharpen your act and implement risk assessments, staff safety training programmes, equipment safety checks etc. as a matter of course and with regular reviews. Not only may you protect your company from potentially serious criminal charges, but much more importantly you may save a life.
What follows is further information on what constitutes an offence, who may be liable and what is a company’s duty of care. We hope you find it helpful.
The offence:
An organisation to which this section applies is guilty of an offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised by its senior management is a substantial element in-- causing a person’s death, and
- amounting to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owned by the organisation to the deceased.
Who is senior management?
If this leaves you wondering if you are senior management and therefore whether your role could somehow come into this, let us outline for you the definition according to the Act:
Senior management, in relation to an organisation, means the persons who play significant roles in- - the making of decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of its activities are to be managed or organised, or
- the actual managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part of those activities.
What is ‘relevant duty of care’?
As it relates to an organisation, it means any of the following duties owed by it under the law of negligence-- a duty owed to its employees or to other persons working for the organisation or performing services for it;
- a duty owed as occupier of premises;
- a duty owed in connection with-
- the supply by the organisation of goods or services
- the carrying on by the organisation of any construction or maintenance operations,
- the carrying on by the organisation of any other activity on a commercial basis, or
- the use or keeping by the organisation of any plant, vehicle or other thing;
It is worth noting that ‘construction or maintenance’ extends to such activities as decoration and cleaning.What are the penalties?- The financial penalties are unlimited but it is estimated that these may well be around 10% of the turnover of the company fined.
- Further, the court has the discretion to impose a publicity order forcing the company to advertise its misconduct via the media. We would suggest that this is an instance where ‘all publicity is good publicity’ does not apply.
Want to know more?
Fuller details of the Act can be found at www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/ukpga_20070019_en_1 or contact the British Safety Council or the Health & Safety Executive.If you want to put into place ladder safety training for your staff, implement a simple system to provide an inspection audit trail for your ladders, or buy some ladder safety equipment then contact Ladderstore.com on 01204 590232 or visit the Ladderstore.com website by clicking here ...../
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