On-line Campaign to Stop Death at Work

A woman whose son was killed in April 2005 as a result of an explosion and fire at work caused by the employer's total disregard for health and safety, has launched an on-line petition as a result of no one being punished or even charged following the workplace death of her son.

Dorothy Wright is not willing to allow his death to go unnoticed.

She said: "We need to let the government know that we the voters want rogue directors and managers to be personally held criminally responsible and sent to jail as it is only then that they will spend the money and time safeguarding their employees' lives."

Through her online petition, 'Stop Deaths in the Workplace', she hopes to ensure that individual directors and managers are made legally responsible for health and safety and criminally responsible for death of an employee through negligence.

However, the government's draft bill on corporate killing would not give Dorothy justice, because it would not meet her aim.

A joint work and pensions and home affairs select committees' report reached the same conclusion.

The home affairs and work and pensions select committees of MPs have analysed the controversial legislation, and demanded significant changes to the government's long-overdue bill on corporate manslaughter, only published in draft form this year.

In demanding significant changes to the proposed bill on corporate manslaughter, they warned that as currently drafted it could even make things worse for the victims of accidents at work.

Quoted in the Guardian newspaper, December 20th, the former minister and chair of the home affairs committee, John Denham, warned that if his proposed amendments are not incorporated into the bill, victims' relatives would "feel cheated of justice in future."

He also demanded that the government move to push the bill through parliament in 2006.

He said: "The reform of corporate manslaughter law is long overdue.

"The new bill must be introduced this year, but it must take into account our recommendations if relatives of victims are not to feel cheated of justice in the future."

The joint report warns that the bill, as currently drafted, may let some big firms off the hook and create "perverse" incentives to treat health and safety less seriously.

Currently the bill makes companies liable to prosecution only for those deaths caused by the negligence of "senior managers".

The MPs argued that this created a "perverse incentive" for senior directors to delegate decisions on health and safety to more junior staff in order to avoid the danger of prosecution.

The report urges the government to introduce an additional offence of "secondary liability for corporate manslaughter" to be used against individuals personally responsible for the organisation's failing. They argue that juries should instead be asked to decide whether "management failure" was to blame for the death.

Sign Dorothy's petition and help make sure her message is heard.

Read the Guardian full story on the Select committee's recommendationshere.

Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services