'Corporate killing' law plan
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• by Karen Miles New laws to make it easier to prosecute hauliers responsible for fatal accidents could be on their way . A Government consultation paper due in the autumn will sound a warning to companies whose vehicles are poorly maintained and whose drivers exceed their hours.
If the proposals are implemented haulage firms that flout the law could find themselves charged with the new offence of "corporate killing"—broadly comparable to "killing by gross carelessness" by an individual—and face unlimited fines.
Companies have largely managed to avoid prosecution for corporate manslaughter because the Crown has had to prove that the death was caused by one person with a "controlling mind". One of the few successful prosecutions was in 1996, when Jacksons Transport of Ossett and its former managing director were convicted of the manslaughter of one of its workers ( CM26 Sept-2 Oct 1996).
Last year the former transport manager of Skipton-based Fewston Transport was acquitted of manslaughter charges after one of the company's tippers killed six people at Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.
A tougher approach was proposed more than three years ago by the Law Commission. An inter-departmental Government body, including representatives from the Department of Transport and the Health & Safety Executive, has been studying the issue.
The findings will result in a consultation paper in the autumn, but it is less clear how long it will take to turn the proposals into law.