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Company Law

Q: Company Manslaughter

Do the law changes regarding corporate manslaughter - giving companies greater liability for fatal injuries to their employees - have any implications for the entertainment industry?

A: Yes. The entertainment industry is treated no differently from any other section of the business community, although the level of risk will obviously vary from one type of business to another by reason of the very nature of the business itself.

The principal areas of risk for the entertainment industry would seem to be:
* Premises - theatres, open-air performance venues, office premises, rehearsal studios, film sets and so forth - where accidents can happen due to criminal negligence or gross carelessness on behalf of management.
* Film and theatre equipment - sets and props which may have some intrinsic dangerous element or be dangerously used or installed.
* Use of firearms, knives, swords and other potentially lethal weapons on stage or film sets, and likewise dangerous animals.

One can doubtless think of other risk areas, if one sets one's mind to it but these are some which are immediately obvious.

You refer to 'changes' in the law regarding corporate manslaughter. In fact, the proposed changes recently reported in the national press have not yet been introduced. A proposed bill is due to be published this autumn, which will be designed to 'beef up' the existing law relating to corporate manslaughter and the existing Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974.

Under the present law, there have already been cases in which company directors have been found guilty of manslaughter owing to criminal gross negligence by them and their companies. Such cases are comparatively rare and depend on the necessity of identifying a particular individual within the company concerned, whose status and responsibility is such that the company's gross negligence can be attributed to him and vice versa. There are also current regulations requiring companies to carry out risk assessments and new Health and Safety Commission guidelines on directors' responsibilities.

A prime example of the application of the current law is the 2001 Hatfield rail crash, in consequence of which Network Rail and six managers are being prosecuted for manslaughter and an offence under the1974 act.

The precise effect of the proposed new corporate manslaughter legislation is still awaited. If, as is likely, it is based on earlier Law Commission recommendations, the probability is that there will be new criminal offences of reckless killing, killing by gross carelessness and corporate killing. The likelihood is that the new law will apply to any 'undertaking' and thus extend not just to companies but to any kind of corporation as well as to schools, colleges, local authorities, charities, partnerships, trade unions and so forth.

Individuals with personal responsibility for the death concerned are likely to be subject to disqualification from holding a management role in the undertaking concerned. There may also be an additional criminal offence for individuals who only contribute to the corporate offence, without primary responsibility. We will know soon enough when the bill is published.

For obvious reasons, it is likely to be easier to identify a particular individual to whom responsibility may be attributed where small businesses rather than large organisations are involved but each case is different and will depend on its own special circumstances. The entertainment industry is no exception.

First published 31st July 2003