Police Commence 1st Corporate Manslaughter Investigations

[brothermagrew]

Police Commence First Corporate Manslaughter Investigations with Vigour:

Defence Lawyer Paul Burnley of DLA Piper Solicitors recently reported to the IIRSM and HSW safety conference in Birmingham on 5 November that Police are arresting managers at their workplaces as part of Corporate Manslaughter investigations under the new Law. Mr Burnley has been involved in two of the first deaths being investigated under the new Act.

He warned that in the cases he is involved in, Police have arrested supervisors, site-level managers and directors and interviewed them under caution within weeks of the incident and he added that he had been surprised by the rigour of the investigations compared with those into fatalities in the past.
He noted that investigators are counting site staff as senior management for the purposes of the Corporate Manslaughter Act. The Act, which came into force in April, requires the authorities to prove that the way an organisation's "activities are organised or managed by its senior managers causes a person's death".
"The police and the HSE are taking a very wide interpretation of who is a senior manager," said Burnley.

He said some lawyers had expected the police to be inadequately trained to pursue corporate manslaughter enquiries. But in the cases he is handling, officers have day-to-day advice from HSE inspectors, who are priming them with questions to ask managers about risk assessments and safety management generally, but also higher-level support.

They are advised in the way they go about the prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and, from time to time, by the attorney general.
Investigators are also spending a lot of time at the organisations' premises said Mr Burnley and they stay around, he warned, and that has a psychological effect on workers and managers and the board. The time they've spent interviewing people has really taken me aback.
The police in the investigations he has been involved in have said they see the offence as "one step down from murder" he noted.
The CPS is not thought to have brought forward any corporate manslaughter charges under the new Act to date, but Burnley said they are looking for a big organisation to make an example of.

A full report on Burnley's presentation to the IIRSM/HSW conference will be published in HSW magazine next month.
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer


However, I should add that it is not yet clear where these workplaces are or indeed which companies are liable or under investigation.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

On site Managers are the ones they are going for in Corporate Manslaughter cases - wonder it Alan and Adam have told their DOMS.

[brothermagrew]

On site Managers are the ones they are going for in Corporate Manslaughter cases - wonder it Alan and Adam have told their DOMS.

Very much doubt it, but that is why we have good CWU Safety Reps to pass on the good news.