IOSH supports radical measures for corporate killers

News | HSP
05.03.2008

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has backed a proposal for firms found guilty of corporate manslaughter to be fined up to and beyond 10% of their annual turnover.

The Institution also gave its support to "radical measures" for convicted firms, arguing that courts should be able to suspend the board of directors in the worst cases of management failure.

Responding to the Sentencing Advisory Panel's (SAP's) consultation on penalties for corporate manslaughter, which closed on 7 February, IOSH proposed "wide-ranging" remedial orders, including training or retraining for directors and senior managers on occupational safety and health management; the introduction of behavioural safety programmes; and third-party audits of safety management systems.

IOSH also gave its support to the SAP's proposal for adverse publicity orders, where courts would be able to force firms to advertise the fact of their conviction for corporate manslaughter, the fine imposed and any other terms.

"Poor practices and behaviour patterns may have developed over several years and long-term commitment is required to bring about a reversal in this," said IOSH president Ray Hurst.

"Some fairly radical measures may be needed; for example, where there have been extreme cases of collective senior management failure, the courts may consider it's in the best interest of public and employee health and safety for all or part of the board to be suspended. In such situations, alternative governance arrangements will be needed to ensure the safe operation of the organisation."

He added, "Sentencing can be a useful tool for achieving improvements far wider than in just the convicted organisation itself."