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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007[1]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to create a new offence that, in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, is to be called corporate manslaughter and, in Scotland, is to be called corporate homicide; and to make provision in connection with that offence.
Citation2007 c. 19
Introduced byHome Secretary John Reid, 20 July 2006
Territorial extent England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent26 July 2007
Commencement6 April 2008
Repealed—
Other legislation
Amended by—
Repealed by—
Relates to—
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom. The Act created a new offence respectively named corporate manslaughter in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and corporate homicide in Scotland.

The Act received the royal assent on 26 July 2007 and came into force on 6 April 2008.[2]

Background

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Main article: Corporate manslaughter (England and Wales)

In the United Kingdom, a corporation is considered a juristic person and can be capable of committing, being convicted of and sentenced for, a criminal offence.[3] However, some conceptual difficulty lies in fixing a corporation with the appropriate mens rea.[4] Before the Act, a corporation could only be convicted of manslaughter if a single employee of the company committed all the elements of the offence and was of sufficient seniority to be seen as embodying the "mind" of the corporation.[5][6] The practical consequence of this was that such convictions were rare and there was public discontent where it was perceived that culpable corporations had escaped censure and punishment.[4]

A Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was introduced to the House of Commons by Home Secretary John Reid on 20 July 2006.[7]

The Act

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The offence

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The Act attempts to align the offence of corporate killing north and south of the border. An indictable offence[8] is committed if the way in which an organisation's activities are managed or organised:[9]

  • Causes a person's death; and
  • Amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased;

— and the way in which its activities are managed or organised by its senior management is a substantial element in the breach.[10] Prosecution in England or Wales requires the permission of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and in Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland[11] and no natural person can be charged with aiding and abetting the offence.[12] In Scotland, all prosecutions are initiated by the Procurator Fiscal.[2] The common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter, as it applies to corporations, is abolished.[13]

Organisations liable

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The offence applies to:[14]

Relevant duty of care

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A relevant duty of care is one of several duties of care owed by the organisation under the law of negligence and is a question of law for the judge.[17] Various government policy decisions;[18] policing,[19] military[20] and child protection[21] activities; and emergency responses[22] are excluded.

There are particular duties of care owed to persons in custody (s. 2(1)(d)) and, owing to the sensitivity and difficulty of such duties, implementation of this section was delayed. The Ministry of Justice published a report on progress towards implementation in July 2008.[23]

Gross breach

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A breach of a duty of care by an organisation is a gross breach if the alleged conduct amounts to a breach of that duty that falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation in the circumstances.[24] The jury must consider whether the evidence shows that the organisation failed to comply with any health and safety legislation that relates to the alleged breach, and if so:[25]

  • How serious that failure was; and
  • How much of a risk of death it posed.

The jury may also:[25]

  • Consider the extent to which the evidence shows that there were attitudes, policies, systems or accepted practices within the organisation that were likely to have encouraged the failure, or to have produced tolerance of it; and
  • Have regard to any health and safety guidance that relates to the alleged breach.

Senior management

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Senior management means the persons who play significant roles in:[26]

  • 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.

Penalties

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On conviction a corporation may be ordered to remedy any breach,[27] or to publicise its failures,[28] or be given an unlimited fine.[8] The Sentencing Guidelines Council issued a steps based definitive guideline, effective from 1 February 2016, for sentencing the offence of corporate manslaughter. The recommendations of the guideline are based on the size and turnover of the organisations with a starting fine of £300,000 and a no limit maximum.[29] If an individual is also found liable for the offence of manslaughter, it can be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 ruled by the same sentencing guideline.[29]

Convictions

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Company name Conviction date Victim's name Cause of death Fine (plus costs)
1 Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings[30] 15 February 2011 Alex Wright Geologic trial pit collapse. £385,000
2 JMW Farm Ltd[31] 8 May 2012 Robert Wilson Large metal bin fell off forklift and onto victim. £187,500
3 Lion Steel Ltd[32] 3 July 2012 Steven Berry Fall through a factory roof. £480,000
4 J Murray and Sons[33] 7 October 2013 Norman Porter Pulled into an animal feed mixing machine. £100,000
5 Princes Sporting Club[34] 22 November 2013 Mari-Simon Cronje Eleven-year-old struck by speedboat. £135,000
6 Mobile Sweepers (Reading) Ltd[35] 2 December 2013 Malcolm Hinton Crushed attempting to repair a street-sweeping truck. £8,000
7 Cavendish Masonry Ltd[36] 22 May 2014 David Evans Builder crushed by a two-ton block of limestone. £150,000
8 Sterecycle (Rotherham) Ltd[37] 7 November 2014 Michael Whinfrey Plant explosion. £500,000
9 A Diamond and Son (Timber) Ltd[38] 17 December 2014 Peter Lennon Crushed while carrying out machinery maintenance. £75,000
10 Peter Mawson Ltd[39] 19 December 2014 Jason Pennington Fell through a skylight while working on a roof. £200,000
11 Pyranha Mouldings Ltd[40] 12 January 2015 Alan Catterall Accidentally locked inside industrial oven. £200,000
12 Nicole Enterprises[41] 12 March 2015 Thomas Houston Crushed by a static caravan. Not yet sentenced
13 Kings Scaffolding[42] 28 April 2015 Adrian Smith Fell through a skylight. £300,000
14 Huntley Mount Engineering Ltd[43] 14 July 2015 Cameron Minshull Sixteen-year-old apprentice became entangled on a lathe. £150,000
15 CAV Aerospace Ltd[44] 24 July 2015 Paul Bowers Crushed by aircraft components. £600,000
16 Linley Development Ltd[45] 7 September 2015 Gareth Jones Crushed by wall collapse while excavating. £200,000[46]
17 Cheshire Gates and Automation Ltd[47] 7 September 2015 Semelia Campbell Trapped in a faulty electric gate £50,000
18 Baldwins Crane Hire Ltd[48] 22 December 2015 Lindsay Easton Crane crashed into an earth bank. £700,000
19 Sherwood Rise Ltd[49] February 2016 Ivy Atkin Died in a care home. £300,000
20 Monavon Construction Ltd[50] June 2016 Gavin Brewer and Stuart Meads Fell through roadside hoarding £500,000
21 Bilston Skips Ltd[51] August 2016 Jagpal Singh Fell from the top of a skip £600,000
22 SR and JR Brown Ltd[52] March 2017 Benjamin Edge Roof fall £300,000
23 Koseoglu Metalworks Ltd[53] May 2017 Nikolai Valkov Roof fall £300,000
24 Odzil Investments Ltd[53] May 2017 Nikolai Valkov Roof fall £500,000
25 Martinisation London Ltd[54] May 2017 Tomasz Procko and Kyrol Szymanski Lifting operations at height £1,200,000
26 Master Construction Products (Skips) Ltd November 2017 Safi Qais Khan Crushed by machinery £255,000
27 Deco-Pak[55] January 2022 Andrew Tibbott Crushed to death by a robotic packing arm

References

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  1. ^ The citation of this Act by this short title is authorised by section 29 of this Act.
  2. ^ a b "Understanding the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007" (PDF). Ministry of Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  3. ^ Interpretation Act 1978, s. 5
  4. ^ a b Herring (2004) p. 720
  5. ^ Tesco Supermarkets Ltd v. Nattrass [1972] AC 153
  6. ^ Attorney General's Reference (No. 2 of 1999) [2000] QB 796, CA
  7. ^ "History of passage through Parliament". Parliament of the UK. 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  8. ^ a b S. 1(6)
  9. ^ S. 1(1)
  10. ^ s 1(3)
  11. ^ s 17
  12. ^ S. 18
  13. ^ S. 20
  14. ^ S. 1(2)
  15. ^ S. 14
  16. ^ Sch. 1, s. 11
  17. ^ S. 2
  18. ^ S.3
  19. ^ S. 4, s. 13
  20. ^ S. 5, s. 12
  21. ^ S. 6
  22. ^ S. 7
  23. ^ "Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act: custody provisions". Ministry of Justice. 21 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  24. ^ S. 1(4)(b)
  25. ^ a b S. 8
  26. ^ S. 1(4)(c)
  27. ^ S. 9
  28. ^ S. 10
  29. ^ a b "Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences Definitive Guideline" (PDF). Sentencing Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2016.
  30. ^ "Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings convicted of first corporate manslaughter charge under new Act". CPS. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  31. ^ "Court sets out sentencing guidance for the offence of corporate manslaughter". Northern Ireland Courts. 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  32. ^ "Second ever conviction for corporate manslaughter". CPS. 2012. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  33. ^ "Fourth statutory corporate manslaughter conviction – are trends emerging?". Kingsley Napley. 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  34. ^ "London sports club sentenced for corporate manslaughter over banana boat ride". CPS. 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  35. ^ "Corporate manslaughter convictions now up to six". RPC. 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  36. ^ "Cavendish Masonry fined for corporate manslaughter". BBC News. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  37. ^ "Rotherham firm found guilty of corporate manslaughter". The Star. 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  38. ^ "Coleraine firm accepts guilt over worker's 'terrible and tragic' death". News Letter. 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  39. ^ "Firm admits to failures which led to fatal Lindal plunge". North-West Evening Mail. 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  40. ^ "Family welcome corporate manslaughter conviction after Merseyside dad died in industrial oven". Liverpool Echo. 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  41. ^ "Alan Milne admits manslaughter and other charges on behalf of one of his companies". BBC News. 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  42. ^ "Scaffolding firm admits responsibility for death of Liverpool dad who fell while fixing roof". Liverpool Echo. 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  43. ^ "Company and its senior management sentenced following death of 16 year old apprentice". CPS. 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  44. ^ "CAV Aerospace fined £600K over worker Paul Bowers crush death". BBC News. 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  45. ^ "St Albans wall collapse death: Executives admit corporate manslaughter". BBC News. 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  46. ^ "Corporate manslaughter case concluded". Philip Poynter Construction Safety. 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  47. ^ "Company sentenced for corporate manslaughter after six year old girl dies". 2015. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  48. ^ "Baldwins Crane Hire fined £700k for driver's corporate manslaughter". LexisNexis. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2017.[permanent dead link]
  49. ^ "Sentencing for first corporate manslaughter conviction relating to a care home". cps.gov.uk. CPS. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  50. ^ "Firm fined £550,000 for 'preventable' death of couple who fell 20ft". standard.co.uk. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  51. ^ "CPS". Crown Prosecution Service. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  52. ^ "Directors of corporate killer jailed after fatal fall cover up attempt | Health and Safety at Work | Corporate manslaughter | Work at height". www.healthandsafetyatwork.com. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  53. ^ a b "Three directors jailed after developer hired unqualified friend to replace roof". Health and Safety at Work. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  54. ^ "Boss jailed over Knightsbridge balcony fall deaths". BBC News. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  55. ^ "Deco-Pak: Firm guilty of corporate manslaughter over worker's crush death". BBC News. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.

Bibliography

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