Corporate manslaughter


The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 created a new offence of “corporate manslaughter” when it came into force in 2008. The legislation aimed to make it easier to prosecute companies and other large organisations when gross failures in their management of health and safety have led to a death. The Act was the result of persistent campaigning by safety campaigners and unions. The new law removed a key obstacle in previous prosecutions, where a company could only be convicted of manslaughter if a “directing mind” (such as a director) at the top of the company was also personally liable. The Act also lifted Crown immunity to prosecution for manslaughter. It applies to companies and other corporate bodies in the public and private sector, government departments, police forces and certain unincorporated bodies, such as partnerships, where these are employers.


At present the Act does not apply to armed forces operations or to the operations of companies registered in the UK if a fatality occurs abroad. However, in April 2016, the House of Commons Defence Committee called for, in a new report, ‘Beyond endurance? Military exercises and the duty of care’, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to be subject to Corporate Manslaughter charges, without exemption. The report is available from the Parliament UK website (www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmdfence/598/598.pdf).


The committee said it was wrong for the MoD and Armed Forces to have exemptions in situations where they have been penalised by Crown Censure (see box below) for serious failings in hazardous training and selection events.


The Corporate Manslaughter Act allows a jury to convict an organisation for both the offence of corporate manslaughter and for health and safety offences. This allows company directors to be prosecuted for a health and safety offence at the same time that the company is prosecuted for corporate manslaughter.


Potential penalties for corporate manslaughter include an unlimited fine, a remedial order, or a publicity order. New Sentencing Council guidelines (see page 35) set out that for large organisations with a turnover of more than £50 million, where the most serious offences have been committed, fines of up to £20 million should be handed down, with the possibility of a higher fine where the turnover greatly exceeds the threshold.


The Home Office initially estimated that there would be around 10 to 13 convictions under the Act each year. However, to date, only around 20 companies have been convicted over the last eight years and fines have generally been well below even the previous Sentencing Council guideline minimum recommended figure of £500,000 (now increased – see page 35) – as set out below.


In addition, a number of individuals have been convicted of gross negligence manslaughter following work-related deaths. In June 2015, for example, the manager of a Hampshire fruit-packing operation, Andrew Stocker, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after he sent two young workers “scuba diving” into an apple storage tank with very low levels of oxygen, to gather fruit for an apple competition. Winchester Crown Court heard that Scott Cain and Ashley Clarke both died of asphyxiation at Blackmoor Estates. They were not provided with breathing apparatus and were expected to hold their breath. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Stocker was in charge and responsible for encouraging this method of collecting apples, although he was on holiday at the time of the deaths. The evidence showed him to be well aware of the dangers presented by the sealed units, which had oxygen levels reduced to 1% for the long-term preservation of the fruit, and he had allowed and encouraged, the practice, in breach of his employer’s safety policy. According to safety journal Health and Safety Bulletin, Stocker was the 51st person to be imprisoned for gross negligence manslaughter in connection with a work-related activity. He was given a two and a half year prison sentence.


Not all prosecutions for corporate and gross negligence manslaughter have resulted in convictions. For example, in June 2014, the mine manager and mine owner at the Gleision Mine, in which four miners drowned, were found not guilty of manslaughter at Swansea Crown Court. Miners Charles Breslin, Philip Hill, Garry Jenkins and David Powell were killed when the mine was engulfed by an enormous inrush of water. Following the verdict, Thompsons solicitors, which represented the families of the mineworkers who died, said: “Getting a conviction on a charge of corporate manslaughter is very difficult, as the prosecution has to prove the manager’s actions amounted to gross negligence, which is a hugely difficult legal burden. You can be careless, you can be negligent — and have men die as a result — but unless it is gross negligence, you walk free”.


Following the conclusion of the inquests into the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster in which 96 people died, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced that it will formally consider whether criminal charges should be brought against any individual or corporate body. In April 2016, the jury in the Hillsborough Inquests concluded that the 96 football fans who died at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989 were unlawfully killed, and that the match commander's actions on the day amounted to gross negligence.