Arnold Clark Vehicle Management

While there was a great deal of publicity and awareness around the launch of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Acts, the same cannot be said for the new Health and Safety offences Act.

The worry about the new legislation is that it’s slipped in largely un-noticed on 16 January 2009. But there are key differences which potentially means that this Act will be a lot more important than Corporate Manslaughter laws.

First, this Act penalises individuals for breaches of Health and Safety laws, not the company. Second, the Corporate Manslaughter laws only kicked in following a death. Not so with the HSO, so it’s scope is far wider. The new Act targets Directors and managers who turn a blind eye to managing business risk and those being found guilty can be jailed for up to 2 years.

The new Act broadens the range of offences for which an individual can be imprisoned, and increases the maximum penalties that can be imposed from £5,000 to £20,000 in the lower courts.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said that its policy will target “those who cut corners, gain commercial advantage over competitors by failing to comply with health and safety law and put workers and the public at risk.”