Health & Safety Update (March 2009)

"Company Culture" key to Corporate Manslaughter

A top lawyer and leading union officer have warned at a recent British Safety Council (BSC) conference that Company culture will be at the centre of any court probe into the first corporate manslaughter prosecutions.

Directors should be aware that any prosecutions under the new legislation could find the courts examining the entire safety culture of a business, and not just the systems and management processes in place.

Failings of senior management will be seen as a substantial element of any breach in the duty of care owed by an organisation to the deceased. The jury will also consider whether there were attitudes, policies, systems or accepted practices in the organisation that were likely to have encouraged the failure. Directors should be able to show that their culture is one of encouraging optimal safety in addition to rules and policies.

Sir Bill Callaghan, former Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, recognises that pressure has grown in recent years to make boards of directors responsible for the consequences of fatal and serious accidents with calls for further legislation.

Part of the growing pressure for action to be taken against both the corporate bodies and individual directors is that some companies have not behaved properly. After a fatal accident there is a basic human need for the bereaved to have an explanation as to why their loved one died, an apology and an assurance that what has happened should not happen to anyone else.

The subject of directors' duties is one of the essential building blocks of good health and safety, without which there will be ever increasing workplace injury and ill-health. Good leadership is imperative. Use your RBS Mentor H&S Management system to ensure that your organisation is compliant and to promote H&S within the workplace. Use our 24/7 advice line and the services of your dedicated Consultant to reinforce the message of good safety culture within your workplace.