Brabners Chaffe Street Solicitors - Property Services

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First corporate manslaughter conviction
17/02/2011

Claire Gregory, Head of Environment and Regulatory at Brabners Chaffe Street comments on Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, the first company to be convicted under new corporate manslaughter legislation:

The case is likely to trigger more cases being brought under the new Act. Lawyers have long been awaiting the outcome of this judgement but unfortunately this case does not address some key areas of the Act which require clarity, namely who is a senior manager and the potential far reaching effects of publicity orders.

The Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007 changed the law such that a serious offence is committed if a company runs its activities in a manner which is grossly negligent. Companies previously would only have been guilty of an offence if they had a ‘guilty directing mind' for the organisation. The burden is now much lower as it centres on the role of 'senior managers'.

The Act was enacted to address the difficulties of convicting larger organisations and this case does not therefore test its full scope. The fact that Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings is run by a sole director who was onsite immediately prior to the accident taking place made it a relatively easy case to try - indeed it would have been relatively easy to try under the old legislation. The real test will come when a much larger company with a complex management structure is prosecuted. Here, the Act enables prosecutors to pursue senior managers straight up the management chain and attribute their acts to that of the company. This case has not therefore addressed the issue of 'who is a senior manager' and until a company with a significant management structure is brought to trial, we will not see the true scope of the Act.

Another issue which has not been addressed is the effect of publicity orders requiring the defendant company to disclose its corporate manslaughter conviction. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings is effectively a non trading entity at the moment so this aspect of the Act has yet to be fully tested but it could potentially be very detrimental to the ongoing credibility of a business - possibly even more so than the fine imposed.

The conviction and today's sentence will no doubt be a hailed as a success by the CPS and the HSE but public confidence in the government's ability to hold negligent companies to account will only return with the successful prosecution of a large corporate entity.


For further information contact Claire Gregory at Brabners Chaffe Street on 0161 836 8800

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