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28 April 2005

Next government must end workplace deaths

Higher fines needed for convictions of corporate manslaughter

On Workers Memorial Day, Thompsons Solicitors, the UK's leading personal injury and trade union law firm, is calling on the next government to make an immediate commitment to ending deaths at work by increasing the fines for convictions of corporate manslaughter.

The new Labour government, if elected, must resurrect the draft manslaughter bill without delay and amend it to contain penalties that will force companies to act, Thompsons says.

These must include higher fines for convictions for corporate manslaughter, including fines linked to profitability and a legal duty on directors to comply with health and safety laws.

Thompsons says the draft bill, which fell when the general election was called, is unlikely to have any significant impact on health and safety compliance or on the number of accidents and deaths at work.

Increased resources needed for HSE

The firm also calls for increased resources for the Health and Safety Executive, which currently only investigates around 1,000 workplace accidents a year - just 5.6% of cases.

Yet Britain is becoming an increasingly dangerous place in which to work. In the past five years to 2003/4 there have been 2157 deaths at work. In 2003/4 alone there were 233 fatal injuries to workers, an increase of 4% from the previous year.

The number of reported major injuries to employees was 30,666, up 9% on the previous year.

Mick Antoniw of Thompsons said: "Unless there are more resources for the HSE, no legislation to reduce deaths at work will succeed. And the draft bill as it stands provides only the bare minimum to justify calling it a corporate manslaughter bill. It creates the offence only. It appears to make no pretence at being legislation whose purpose is to provide a comprehensive framework within which deaths and serious injuries at work can be prevented or deterred."

Notes to editors

Thompsons can arrange interviews with families who have lost loved ones in workplace accidents.

A briefing on the draft corporate manslaughter bill is downloadable from this website as a PDF file.

Compensation Claim Advice

If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident which was someone else's fault, telephone us now for accurate claim advice.

There are strict time limits in place to make any personal injury claim. For further information, contact us or visit our Questions Answered page.

Thompsons Solicitors are experts in all personal injury matters. We will be able to advise you whether or not you have a valid claim for compensation. Our specialist personal injury lawyers will be happy to talk you through the process of making a claim in plain English and will be happy to answer any questions or queries you may have. If you do have a valid personal injury compensation claim and you decide to instruct Thompsons Solicitors to deal with the matter for you, we will recover our legal fees from the person responsible for your injury, ensuring that the entire procedure is cost-free for you. Telephone us now on 08000 224 224 or complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms.