The impact of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
The impact of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
Becky Spencer looks at the key prosecutions under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 so far.
In September 2008, 27-year-old geologist Alexander Wright was killed when an unsupported trench he was working in collapsed on top of him as he collected soil samples. Two-and-a-half years later, his employer, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd, was found guilty of corporate manslaughter after the jury heard the firm had “a cavalier attitude towards health and safety” and “the way it taught and supervised junior engineers was inherently dangerous and the methods of working were outdated”.
The firm, which pleaded not guilty, was the first in the UK to be convicted of the new offence of corporate manslaughter (corporate homicide in Scotland) under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The Act had come into force just a few months before Mr Wright’s death in 2008.
What is the remit of the Act?
Under the Act, “the offence of corporate manslaughter relates to the way in which the relevant activity was managed or organised throughout the company or organisation. Wider considerations such as the overall management of health and safety, the selection and training of staff, the implementation of systems of working and the supervision of staff can be taken into account… An organisation is not liable if the failings were exclusively at a junior level. The failings of senior management must have formed a substantial element in the breach.”
In court, the following needs to be proved:
- the defendant is a qualifying organisation
- the organisation owed a relevant duty of care to the deceased
- there was a gross breach of that duty by the organisation
- the way in which its activities were managed or organised by its senior management was a substantial element in the breach
- and the gross breach of the organisation’s duty caused or contributed to the death.
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd appealed against its conviction and the £385,000 fine it was given but both were upheld by the Court of Appeal.
How many have been prosecuted?
Since that first prosecution in 2011, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) data shows there were 40 prosecutions for corporate manslaughter in England and Wales up until the end of 2023, 29 of which resulted in the company or organisation being found guilty of the offence. These included:
- In December 2023, Timmins Waste Services Ltd was found guilty of corporate manslaughter and fined £400,000 following the death of labourer David Willis inside an industrial shredder in 2018. The court heard how Mr Willis had been lifted onto the top of the shredder by yard manager Brian Timmins, who was operating a digger, to clear a blockage. Mr Willis was then seen on CCTV working on and within the shredder while the machine was still operating. When Mr Timmins returned to work after the weekend, he found Mr Willis’ coat in the yard but no sign of Mr Willis. He then reported the incident to the police.
In addition to the firm’s corporate manslaughter conviction, Brian Timmins was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter and was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
- In January 2022, garden supplies company Deco-Pak Ltd was convicted of corporate manslaughter following the death of Andrew Tibbott in April 2017. Mr Tibbott was crushed to death by a robotic packing arm as he attempted to clean a sensor on an automated bagging production line.
The court heard that safety systems for the production line, including safety fencing and a system which would automatically shut down the power if anyone stepped inside the production area, were deliberately disabled or bypassed within weeks of its installation in early 2015. Senior management at the company had been warned on numerous occasions by the machine suppliers about the bypassing of safety systems and the likely consequence of accidents and injury.
The company was fined £700,000. Company owner Michael Hall was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
In 2024, media reports show another three companies were convicted of corporate manslaughter, including Stonehurst Estates Ltd, which pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter in February 2024, following the death of labourer Oleksander “Sasha” Rudyy, who was crushed to death at a construction site in Birmingham in 2019.
Mr Rudyy had been removing supporting metal bars with an angle grinder as part of a large-scale renovation project when the structure he was working on collapsed. He was not aware the metal bars played a crucial role in supporting the structure.
The court heard Stonehurst Estates Ltd had no proper plan and sequence in place for working on the structure, despite safety measures being known and readily available to the company. There was no risk assessment or safe system of work in place for the task Mr Rudyy was undertaking. The standard of care granted to Mr Rudyy by the company was described as “woeful” by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The company was fined £450,000. The firm’s director and the site supervisor both pleaded guilty to health and safety offences.
Future action
Investigations into corporate manslaughter/homicide are complex and lengthy, usually taking years to get to court if a charge is brought. Many more cases are investigated by the police, with support from the HSE, than those that end in charges being brought.
In Scotland, where the offence is known as corporate homicide, research conducted by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) found there had been no recorded prosecutions under the Act since it came into force in 2008, leading to calls for the legislation to be reformed.
In 2025, a number of prosecutions for corporate manslaughter will be making their way through the court system. These include the first NHS Trust to be charged with corporate manslaughter over a patient’s death in a mental health unit. The trial of North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) is currently underway at the Old Bailey.
In addition, police investigations into corporate manslaughter in a number of high-profile cases are continuing. These include an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital relating to the period of Lucy Letby’s crimes during 2015 and 2016. And, following the end of the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the Metropolitan Police Force is continuing its investigation into the fire to identify any criminal offences including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud and health and safety offences. Since the fire, detectives have identified and are investigating 19 companies or organisations and 58 individuals as suspects. The Crown Prosecution Service has said it does not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.
Becky Spencer is a writer and editor on health and safety and accident prevention at work, in the home, during leisure activities and on the road. She was previously Managing Editor of RoSPA’s occupational safety & health journals and is currently editor of the European Association for Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion (EuroSafe) newsletter.
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