Tougher corporate safety bill could be law by autumn

A new law punishing corporate lawbreakers will get its second reading in March, and is expected to become law by the autumn.

The Health and Safety (Offences) Bill removes the cap on the level of fines for breaches of health and safety laws - currently £20,000 for a range of less "serious" offences. The Bill, sponsored by Scarborough and Whitby MP Lawrie Quinn, would also make it possible to imprison employers for the most serious offences, and raise the fine for employers who are not properly insured.

Michael Leahy general secretary of community union ISTC said: "For too long company directors have been sheltered from health and safety accountability. Directors who negligently cause death, injury or disease or who place others at unacceptable risk should be held to account. Lawrie Quinn's Bill is a welcome step towards achieving safer workplaces for workers."

The measures in the Bill were first proposed in the Revitalising health and safety strategy launched in June 2000 by deputy prime minister John Prescott and the Health and Safety Commission.

The TUC says the Bill is needed because health and safety offences are treated less seriously than they ought to be by employers and the courts. It believes the level of fines needs to be increased so that they represent a real deterrent, and also wants to see more effective enforcement of the law through more inspectors.