New Act will support safety-conscious companies

THE new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 will support well-managed companies by punishing those that take unjustifiable risks with people’s safety, said barrister Denis Barry, speaking at last week’s International Powered Access Fede

The Act came into force on 6 April 2008 and applies across the UK. Under the law, an organization is guilty of a statutory offence if the way in which it manages or organizes its activities causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty o

Mr Barry explained, to the audience of access equipment manufacturers, rental companies and end-users, that duty of care is an obligation that organizations have to take reasonable steps to protect people’s safety. These duties exist, for example, in resp

An organization convicted of the offence can receive: a fine with no upper limit; a publicity order requiring the organization to publicize its conviction; and a remedial order requiring the organization to address the cause of the fatal injury.

Mr Barry urged access companies to review management and operator training procedures, and to ensure that safety systems are in place, as the key question that the Act poses is whether management failure to organize activities properly caused the victim’s

The management of thorough examinations of access equipment is a key aspect of this safety culture – a theme that was addressed by Gil Male, IPAF technical officer and former HM principal specialist inspector with the HSE’s Technology Unit.

Mr Male examined inspection and thorough examination practices in Europe and the US, and noted the differences that exist in the frequency of thorough examinations, ie 12 months in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, six months in the UK and France, and t