Written against the backdrop of increasing fines for health and safety offences against companies and individuals, this practical guide provides directors and managers with straight forward and practical advice on relevant issues.
Using limited jargon, the authors explain the law surrounding health and safety prosecutions such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and analyse the practical issues involved in such prosecutions.
It provides valuable information on enforcement, investigations by the police and HSE, inquests, funding and how a case progresses through the criminal courts and includes detailed information about the issues that an organisation needs to consider when faced with an investigation. There is an extensive chapter explaining the sentencing process for convicted individuals and companies which also details the current trends in this area. It covers manslaughter prosecutions of individuals and companies along with an analysis and explanation of the Corporate Manslaughter Corporate Homicide Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament and is expected to become law sometime in 2007.
Presented in bite-size chapters that can be read as stand-alone documents, this practical guide provides a knowledgebase for directors and managers, as health and safety issues rise rapidly up the corporate governance agenda.