The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill received Royal Assent on 26 July 2007 becoming the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 ("the Act").
Companies whose gross negligence leads to the death of individuals will now face prosecution for corporate manslaughter (in England) or corporate homicide (in Scotland). An organisation will be guilty of such an offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised by its senior management causes a person’s death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by that organisation to the deceased.
The Act applies the offence to corporations, police forces, partnerships, trade unions or employers associations who are employers and various government departments listed in a schedule to the Act including the Scottish Executive, Department for Work and Pensions and Ministry of Defence.
