Two decades after the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster, a new law has been introduced to make it easier to prosecute both companies and public bodies for health and safety failures.

More than 20 years after the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in the English Channel with the loss of almost 200 lives, a new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act has been introduced.

The Act is designed to make it easier to prosecute companies, organisations and, for the first time, Government bodies if they are suspected of gross corporate health and safety failures that lead to fatalities.

Prosecutors no longer need to demonstrate that a single senior manager was to blame for such a tragedy and there will be no upper limit for fines.

The Act also lifts crown immunity to prosecution, not just for Government departments, but also for other public bodies such as police forces. But why is this new approach required?

Decade of disasters

Jonathan Dunkley, Partner at commercial law firm Muckle LLP, says: “Almost 200 passengers and crew of the Herald of Free Enterprise died on 6 March 1987 after the ferry capsized as a result of criminal acts and gross negligence throughout the operating company.

“Over the next decade there was a series of further disasters, all involving significant loss of life and all caused by management failure and criminal neglect. Confidence in the deterrent effect of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 evaporated as prosecutions for manslaughter collapsed in each case.

“A Law Commission Report in 1996 indicated a determination to tackle this and redress the growing perception that killers in smart suits were being allowed to ‘get away with it’. So 21 years and one month after the Herald of Free Enterprise tragedy, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act came into force on 6 April 2008.”

A powerful message

The Act does not require organisations to comply with any new regulatory standards, and those that are complying with existing health and safety laws can continue as they are. While the Act is concerned with the corporate liability of the organisation itself, individuals can still be prosecuted for gross negligence, manslaughter and health and safety offences.

Dunkley adds: “While the Act does not require organisations to comply with strict regulatory standards, it does require them to take proper steps to meet current legal duties. Those organisations that disregard the safety of others at work, with fatal consequences, are more vulnerable to serious criminal charges.”

Justice Minister Maria Eagle says: “The law ensures improved justice for victims of corporate failures. The Act provides that companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter on the basis of gross corporate failures in health and safety.

“We are sending out a very powerful deterrent message to those organisations that do not take their health and safety responsibilities seriously.”

To find out more about the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, click HERE.

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