Engineering Union Amicus says the new corporate manslaughter bill is too narrow and fails to allow for directors or senior managers to be held responsible for safety breaches.

Amicus says that an additional offence of “unlawful killing” would allow individuals to be prosecuted, with penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment.

Giving evidence to a committee hearing on the Draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill last month, Amicus’ head of parliamentary affairs Mike Griffiths said evidence shows that unless senior individuals in organisations are held personally liable standards will not improve.

As well as possible imprisonment, Amicus is also campaigning for much larger fines to be imposed and the removal of Crown Immunity which protect certain public bodies from prosecution for health and safety lapses.

Weakness in existing legislation has led to charges being dropped against directors over the Hatfield and Paddington rail disasters.

Amicus wants a range of other penalties also to be included, including personal fines, suspension or disqualification of directors, retraining or remedial training orders, and community health and safety service orders against directors or senior managers.

Source

Construction Manager