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Manslaughter Act Packs the Necessary Punch

A new survey from solicitors Norton Rose suggests the Corporate Manslaughter Act (CMA) which came into force in April carries the power to make managers and directors think twice before compromising their company’s health and safety.

The survey, which took on board the opinions of 90 people across the construction, shipping, transport, energy and utilities sectors indicated that the potential penalties incurred as a result of the Act would have significant positive impact on health and safety management in manufacturing workplaces.

During 2004/05, 35 fatalities occurred and 5,200 major injuries within the manufacturing sector all of which would have been subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974). Although this Act has the power to impose unlimited fines, the reality is that fines rarely exceed £50,000, even for a fatality. This is in stark contrast to fines imposed for businesses convicted of anti-competitive practises when £1m is considered normal.

Consultation papers for the CMA have suggested that courts will be looking to impose fines around 2.5% and 10% of average annual turnover if convicted. This represents a big step towards levelling out the discrepancy between convictions for causing the death of a person and those for unfair business practises.

The survey from Norton Rose has also given weight to the new penalty of a Publicity Order which compels convicted companies to publicise the details of their conviction. 80% of the surveyed people believed this penalty would cause a company within their sector to make significant changes to its practises due to the threat of reputational damage.

Again, well over 60% thought that a fine of 10% of annual turnover would ensure a company took steps to remedy the failing that led to the fatality and 56% believed it would result in more time being spent on health and safety generally. However, a significant minority was of the opinion that a 10% fine could lead to redundancies within a company.


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