Corporate manslaughter

This document sets out the Government's proposals to reform the current law on corporate manslaughter, published for pre-legislative scrutiny and consultation with industry, trade unions and the public. The draft Bill seeks to strike a balance between securing company accountability for health and safety incidents involving gross management negligence, whilst avoiding burdensome regulation which might stifle entrepreneurial activity. It proposes a new, specific offence of corporate manslaughter for situations where a gross failing by senior management to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or the public causes a person's death, and would apply to all companies and other types of incorporated body (including many in the public sector such as local authorities), as well as, for the first time, government departments and other Crown bodies. The new offence seeks to move away from the current need to link a company's guilt with the gross negligence of an individual who is taken to embody the organisation, to a more effective means of prosecuting organisational negligence resulting in death which reflects the gravity and consequences of the conduct involved.