RoSPA Supports Change...

Revising the law of manslaughter: Why it's needed, what's proposed and the likely impact

Errol Taylor, Deputy Chief Executive, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)

The clock is surely ticking all the more audibly towards the moment when a long-overdue revision of the law finally makes it on to the statute books.

It has been a decade since the Government said it would look at corporate manslaughter and three years since the "Warwick Agreement", part of which included a commitment to legislate for the offence, was made between the Government and trade unions.

A year ago, the Home Office said that there was a ministerial commitment to seeing the new legislation "without further delay". There had already been progress with the publication of a draft Bill in March 2005, and this has since been followed by a parliamentary process that has attracted much news coverage, particularly during the past month.

With the Ministry of Justice continuing its preliminary work on high-level guidance to business on the revised offence of corporate manslaughter, now seems a suitable opportunity to reflect on events in the legislative sphere.

It is also valuable to reflect on why the corporate manslaughter law is so important, what it actually includes, and to consider its likely impact on the management of health and safety.