The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is UK-wide legislation sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. It creates a new offence of corporate homicide in Scotland. The Act came into force on 6 April 2008.
An organisation will be guilty of the new offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care to the deceased. A substantial part of the breach must have been in the way activities were managed by senior management. "Senior management" is not defined and the structure of any organisation will need to be considered on a case by case basis to determine if the failure has occurred at a sufficiently senior level.
Criminal liability lies with the organisation, not the senior managers whose failings may have caused the commission of the offence. Although the Act does not create a new offence for individual directors who contribute to deaths, they can be charged with culpable homicide or with other offences under the Health & Safety at Work etc, Act 1974.
The new offence applies where the organisation concerned owed a duty of care in the law of negligence to the victim. This may include duties of care owed to employees, as an occupier of premises, in connection with supply of goods and services, construction and maintenance and commercial services, and the use of plant, vehicles etc, as set out in section 2 of the Act.
An organisation guilty of the offence will be liable to an unlimited fine. The Act also provides for courts to impose a publicity order, requiring the organisation to publicise details of its conviction and fine. This was commenced by the UK Government on 15 February 2010.
Although most of the Act came into force on 6 April 2008, commencement of the custody provisions, which are contained in sections 2(1)(d) and 2(2) of the Act, was delayed to give custody providers adequate time to prepare. On 21 March 2011, Crispin Blunt, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice announced that the UK Government would commence the custody provisions of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The UK Government commenced the custody provisions of the Act on 1 September 2011.
This means that, from 1 September 2011, an organisation (including a Government Department) can be convicted of a corporate manslaughter offence if the way in which its activities were managed or organised caused a person's death and amounted to a gross breach of the duty of care owed to the deceased by virtue of that person being held in custody. Therefore, custody providers, including prisons, secure hospitals, police and juvenile detention facilities, will be covered by corporate homicide laws.
The Amendment Order, which came into force at the same time as the custody provisions were commenced, widens the scope of section 2(2) of the Act to include two categories of persons not already covered by the Act. They are persons detained in Service custody premises which are the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and persons detained for customs purposes in custody areas of UK Border Agency offices.
The Scottish Government believes that the Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007 sends a robust message to organisations that failures to meet their duty of care to employees and the public will not be tolerated.
The Ministry of Justice has produced an introductory leaflet to the Act and a more detailed guide. Further information on the Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007 plus additional guidance can be found on the Ministry of Justice's Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007 section of their internet site.