Corporate Manslaughter Act
MSS Health and Safety Provides Rias with Expert Support on the Corporate Manslaughter Act
The new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 will make it easier to bring prosecutions against companies and organisations whose negligence has contributed to the deaths of employees or members of the public. Organisations have a duty of care in the way that they manage their activities and they can be found guilty if a death results from serious mismanagement.
This Act is generating some concern amongst organisations and is making them more aware of their responsibilities. Rias, a specialist over 50s insurance company with over 1,200 employees, has taken the Act very seriously. Rias already had well established health and safety policies and procedures thanks to its association with MSS Health and Safety, a specialist heath and safety consultancy.
Rias identified a need to take a detailed look at the current safeguards and also make people aware of their responsibilities, especially senior management. It was also important to increase awareness and get employees to take more ownership of their actions.
In order to achieve this, MSS Health and Safety carried out a training course for directors and produced a Health and Safety Handbook for managers. MSS Health and Safety also helped Rias to tweak its health and safety policies and procedures to take the new Act into account. For example, anyone driving on company business comes under the new law and so a proper driving policy was implemented in order to provide adequate safeguards.
According to Chris Stone, the Facilities Manager at Rias, “MSS Health and Safety played an important role in increasing health and safety awareness, highlighting management responsibilities and getting everything in place. It has the right expertise and provided us with impartial and independent advice.”
