Home Secretary considers job ban for "corporate killers

Citation

(2001), "Home Secretary considers job ban for "corporate killers", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310cab.002

Home Secretary considers job ban for "corporate killers"

Home Secretary considers job ban for "corporate killers"

Home Secretary Jack Straw is looking to have "corporate killers" disqualified from holding any management job in future so that they will no longer pose a threat to public safety.

The ban will be in addition to heavy fines and long prison sentences that company bosses are likely to face if they cause the death of employees or members of the public "by recklessness or gross carelessness".

Mr Straw is proposing to change the law on involuntary manslaughter and create a new offence of corporate killing to make companies and public bodies criminally liable for deaths caused by poor safety management. The new law is expected to be introduced early in the next Parliament.

But writing in a Corporate Killing publication, published by the British Safety Council, the Home Secretary states: "We are concerned that corporate liability alone might not be a sufficient deterrent, particularly within large or group companies. For this reason, we are considering whether it is appropriate for action to be taken against individual company officers if they contribute to the management failure that causes death."

He adds: "It is important that individuals are prevented from continuing in positions that make the public vulnerable to similar conduct in future. For this reason, we also propose that an individual who contributes to a management failure resulting in death should be disqualified from acting in a management role in future."

The proposed changes to the law are due to public demand for tougher corporate killing laws. They follow a number of major disasters – such as the Paddington and other rail crashes, the sinking of The Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames and the cross-channel ferry in Zeebrugge – in which many lives were lost due to poor safety management.

(News Release, British Safety Council, 21 March 2001)