A jury at Winchester Crown Court this week found Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings guilty of the Corporate Manslaughter of en employee in September 2008. The firm denied the charges, but a police investigation found that the company had a “cavalier attitude” to health and safety. The company has been fined £385,000 to be paid over 10 years.
The introduction of Corporate Manslaughter laws has had a long and rocky history and I am sure that this case will get supporters of the legislation and those opposed to it re-join the debate on the pros and cons of the law.
From the perspective of protecting the health and safety of employees it has to be a good thing as company executives can now be held to account in court for the failings of their company but the law falls short of holding them individually responsible.
Personally, I do not think a fine of any size would ever remove the feelings of remorse and accountability from an executive or senior manager who is responsible for an organisation where a fatal workplace injury has occurred. I believe most reasonable human beings will put the protection of the health and safety of their employees ahead of making business profit.....assuming that they are aware of what is going on in their organisation.
So hopefully, it will be this feature that gives the new law it's teeth. Managers and Executives MUST know what is going on in their organisation and understand the culture that they are leading.
Further details on the case can be found here:
http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/02/engineering-firm-first-to-be-guilty-of-corporate-manslaughter.htm?wa_src=email&wa_pub=cipd&wa_crt=news_3&wa_cmp=pmdaily_170211
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