Relief as corporate killing bill is passed at last

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was finally passed into law last month, after months of "ping-ponging" between the Commons and the Lords over whether it should cover deaths in custody.

The new law will enable companies to be prosecuted for deaths at work, by removing the need to identify an individual - in legal terms, the "controlling mind" - who was grossly negligent. While aspects of the Bill have been criticised, its approval by both Houses was widely welcomed.

"No large or medium-sized organisation has ever been convicted of corporate manslaughter," said David Bergman, director of charity the Centre for Corporate Accountability. "We hope that this Bill will bring an end to the immunity that they have had over the years."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber expressed relief that Parliament had reached "a sensible decision" on deaths in custody (which will be covered by the new law, but not until three years after it has been applied to deaths at work) so that the Bill could be passed.

"Even though unions wanted the Bill to make individual directors personally liable for safety breaches, and [wanted] penalties against employers committing safety crimes to be tougher, we hope it will mean the start of a change in the safety culture at the top of the UK's companies and organisations," he added.

But unions have promised that they will continue the campaign for directors' duties. Bud Hudspith, national health and safety officer for general union Unite (Amicus section), said: "We will still press for [the Bill to include] individual duties for directors found guilty of serious breaches of health and safety. All the evidence shows that this is a key determinant in companies making improvements to their health and safety provisions."