The Government's Proposals :

After nearly five years of talking about it, the Home Office this spring (2005) finally published a document entitled "Corporate Manslaughter: The Government's Draft Bill for Reform".

Under the proposed legislation, an organisation is guilty of the offence of corporate manslaughter if the way in which any of the organisation's activities are managed or organised by the senior managers a) causes a person's death; and b) amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased.
A person is a "senior manager" of an organisation if he plays a significant role in the making of decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of its activities is to be managed or organised; or the actual manager or organiser of the whole or a substantial part of those activities.

A gross breach is a breach of a duty of care by an organisation that falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation in the circumstances.
To decide that question, the jury must consider whether the evidence shows that the organisation failed to comply with any relevant health and safety legislation or guidance.
The Draft Bill does set out a number of other factors which the jury will also have to consider, such as whether or not senior managers sought to cause the organisation to profit from its failure, ie that they deliberately cut corners to reduce costs or boost profits.
Critics of the proposed legislation are already concerned that such additional factors will make obtaining a conviction difficult.
The law will affect companies supplying services, as well as employers and occupiers of land, which will include premises and building sites.

So, do we actually need a Corporate Manslaughter Law?
Those in favour of further legislation argue:

1. There have been a number of accidents, in the transport sector and in the workplace, which have provoked demands for the use of the law of manslaughter. However failures to successfully prosecute corporations have led to a perception that the law is inadequate. There is a further public perception that the leaders of major corporations should be made personally liable for the failings of that organisation.
2. It would also address the overwhelming public concern expressed over the leniency shown to workplace deaths compared to other forms of homicide occurring outside the workplace.
3. From a practical point of view one can argue that the law must be made to fit the modern commercial environment so that it is much more straightforward to bring corporations to account for their actions. It will also improve safety standards across a wide range of organisations and afford workers and the public at large better protection
4. There are then the moral issues. There are those who argue that society is entitled to seek retribution on behalf of the relatives of those who have died, either in accidents or at work, by making corporations and their leaders more accountable under the law of manslaughter as well as under the health and safety legislation. Furthermore, a corporate manslaughter law will provide the required deterrent.

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