The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force on 6 April 2008 and targets the behaviour of companies but, in the prosecutions brought to date, senior management have found themselves in the dock alongside their companies.
In any workplace death, juries will now be directed to consider how the fatal activity was managed or organised throughout the company, including any training, systems and processes for managing safety and how these were actually operated.
You can now be convicted if it is proven that there was a gross breach of duty of care by senior management, instead of just one individual.
Companies can be prosecuted under this Act if:
- The way in which it managed or organised it’s activities causes a death
- There was a gross breach of duty of care
- Part of the breach was caused by the way senior management organised activities.
With the introduction of this Act, enabling the prosecution of the company or organisation, in addition to the existing health and safety and criminal laws that enable prosecution of directors, board members, companies, senior managers and individuals, it is ever more important to ensure your top management are suitably trained and informed of the potential implications of a health and safety breach or failure and the best practice used to avoid them.
There are a number of ways you can protect yourselves including increasing the health and safety training for all senior managers and directors, this training will make a difference if your company finds itself in the dock.
To help protect senior managers and directors THSP Risk Management have launched their brand new IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors training course. This IOSH accredited course has been designed to provide managers and directors with all the information they need to help them effectively manage health and safety in their workplace, on completion of this course they should:
- Understand the importance of strategic safety management and its integration into other business management systems
- Identify accident causes and plan for prevention through risk assessment and control strategies
- Know the consequences of failing to manage health and safety effectively
- Understand the importance of consultation and communication with employees on health and safety issues
- Understand the importance of employee selection and the effect of human factors on health and safety
- Know the importance of performance monitoring for continual improvement of health and safety management.
This essential training course can be ran for up to ten delegates at your premise for £895 + VAT or alternatively we offer open training courses at Victoria, London and Sandy, Bedfordshire, costing just £295 + VAT per delegate.
To find out more about our IOSH Safety for Senior Executives training course or any of our other health and safety courses please call our training team on 03456 122 144 or see our website at www.thsp.co.uk
