Accountability
The facts
- Directors of
organisations (and their equivalents) need to provide leadership to
look after the safety and health of their employees and others,
where there is a 'duty of care'.
- Directors have both individual and collective, in the case of
Boards, responsibilities for the governance and risk management of
the organisation.
- Individual directors can be personally liable under health and
safety law if their failures mean the organisation commits an
offence and, under common law, if their grossly negligent behaviour
causes death.
- Directors can also be 'disqualified' if convicted of health and
safety offences.
- The Corporate
Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 means that where
gross failures cause someone's death, the organisations responsible
can more easily be held to account. Under the new Act, courts will
be able to impose unlimited fines and publicity or remedial
orders.
- The Health
and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 raised the maximum fine which
can be given in the lower courts from £5,000 to £20,000 for most
health and safety offences.
- It made imprisonment an option for more health and safety
offences in both the lower and higher courts and made more offences
that are currently only triable in the lower courts, triable in
either the lower or higher courts.
Our position
We supported the introduction of the Corporate
Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in April 2008 as a
deterrent to poor corporate health and safety standards. We believe
that removing the need to find an individual culpable will help the
prosecution of negligent large organisations where gross management
failure leads to death. We've advocated that the courts use
'wide-ranging' remedial orders to help make sure essential health
and safety system and culture improvements are made.
The key to effective health and safety management and positive
culture is leadership from the top. We strongly supported the case
for improved guidance for directors on their health and safety
duties. That's why we helped develop and promote the
Leading health and safety
at work document.
We've also called for enforceable directors' health and safety
duties in our Get the
best campaign.
The Health and Safety (Offences) Act will send a strong message
to employers that health and safety offences are treated just as
seriously as other breaches. It will also help support the business
case for good health and safety.
Legal sanctions though, are just one part of an overall strategy
to prevent injury and ill-health at work.
Relevant IOSH consultation responses