Fines set for work deaths
Fines for companies and organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter “may be millions of pounds and should seldom be below £500,000,” according to guidance to the courts issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council.
“For other health and safety offences that cause death, fines from £100,000 up to hundreds of thousands of pounds should be imposed,” the council said.
However, the guidelines moved away from an earlier recommendation that they be based on a company’s or organisation’s turnover.
TUC health and safety officer Hugh Robertson said: “While the proposals mean that many fines will be higher than at present, many unions will still be disappointed that these fines will be a drop in the ocean for some big companies.
The TUC is also dismayed that the guidelines did not take the chance to remind courts that they should consider disqualifying directors “in all cases where a death has occurred”.
The trial of the first company to be charged under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which came into force in 2008, was adjourned in February until July 2010. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings director Peter Eaton, who also faces a charge of gross negligence manslaughter, required “urgent and intensive” medical attention. The charges relate to the death of geologist Alexandra Wright in September 2008.