Corporate Killers Still Getting Away With It Due To Labour's Inaction

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 28th Apr 2003

Today is Workers' Memorial Day. Tough new legislation to introduce the crime of Corporate Killing is required if Labour is to live up to its 1997 and 2001 manifesto commitments according to Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow DTI Secretary. Dr. Cable said:

"Labour have had 6 years to introduce strong legislation on corporate killing but there does not appear to be any appetite whatsoever to deal with this matter."

"It is extraordinarily difficult to get a criminal conviction against a company which has been grossly negligent in its observation of Health & Safety standards."

"Insultingly low fines dealt out under the current ineffectual regulations acts as no incentive to cowboy operators who don't take safety seriously."

"We need new strong Corporate Killing laws, combined with effective resources through the Health & Safety Executive to investigate and then prosecute where negligence has occurred."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Currently, accidents and deaths are investigated under Health & Safety regulations after referral to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). HSE does some good work, but it is operating with limited resource and ineffective laws. Only about 20% of reported serious accidents get investigated. Successfully prosecuted cases, only about 10%, attract very low fines - averaging about £15,000.