The claimant's view: ultimate power, ultimate responsibility
The imprisonment of Roy Clarke, the employer whose negligence caused the death of 17-year-old Daniel Dennis in his first week at work, is welcome but points to the need for the Crown Prosecution Service and judges to use the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act effectively.
It took five years for the Dennis family, Thompsons and the GMB union to get justice for Daniel. Only after we forced a judicial review of the decision not to prosecute did the CPS finally bring charges.
After all the prevarication by the authorities, Mr Clarke admitted manslaughter before the trial started. He was sent to prison on 6 May for directing Daniel, who he knew had no experience or training in working at heights, onto the roof of a superstore from which he fell to his death.
The sentence should be a warning to all employers that the trade unions will not allow employers who kill workers through their negligence to evade responsibilities.
But the manslaughter Act would not have applied to Mr Clarke, since he was a sole trader, which is one of the weaknesses of the new law. Specific legal duties must be imposed on directors of companies so that directors generally, and sole traders such as Mr Clarke specifically, can be held to account for the way in which they run their companies.
But what the Act does provide the courts with – and we fear will be under used – is an unprecedented and virtually unfettered power to order an organisation to take steps to remedy a breach.
Both judges and the CPS need clear guidance and training, however, in the use of remedial orders or this power will be interpreted too narrowly.
An inherently conservative judiciary, significant inconsistency in sentencing from court to court and a CPS that apparently does not have an understanding of health and safety (the High Court’s comment, not mine, but to which I would add ‘willingness to engage with health and safety’) will lead to a power that offers a chance of real cultural change in a company going unnoticed and unused.
When the CPS told Daniel Dennis’ distraught parents that it was unable to bring charges of gross negligence manslaughter, Mr Clarke probably thought he had got away with it. The family’s courage and tenacity meant he did not. But many organisations who kill their workers will – unless the new Act is used to maximum effect.
Tom Jones, partner, Thompsons Solicitors
Story Credit: Post