Labour Research September 2003

Features: Health and safety matters

Unlawful killing verdict

In July, a jury returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" after an inquest into the deaths of four construction workers. The four men fell from a gantry while carrying out strengthening work to the Avonmouth Bridge near Bristol in September 1999. General union GMB general secretary Kevin Curran welcomed the verdict but said that existing corporate killing law had hampered the fight for justice. The Crown Prosecution Service will now have to reconsider its decision not to prosecute any manager for manslaughter.