Workplace Law Magazine is available only to Premium Members of the Workplace Law Network. Produced 10 times each year, it is distributed in hard copy format in the first week of the month, and is also available online.
R v. Beckingham: case closed
The prosecution of Gillian Beckingham and Barrow Borough Council following the UK’s largest ever outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease has raised a number of important issues and questions: what makes someone negligent but not grossly negligent? What do you have to prove to prosecute a company or organisation for corporate manslaughter? And, perhaps most poignantly for anyone with health and safety responsibilities, could it be you? Beckingham may not have considered herself to be a key person responsible for health and safety — to the extent that she would face prosecution — but the Crown Prosecution Service believed this enough to push through not just one trial but two. If the worst should happen at your place of work how personally liable would you, and could you, be held? Would you be able to prove you had done everything that was required of you? Could you have responsibilities of which you are unaware? If anything this case highlights the need to be extremely clear on what your personal responsibilities and liabilities are and ensure that you not only fulfil them but have proof to that effect too. Keeping records of all actions and discussions surrounding health and safety issues is of paramount importance.In this issue...
Forum
Opinions and thoughts from Workplace Law Network members on a current hot topic.
Introduction
A summary of the Barrow legionella case and its implications.
Barrow: investigation timeline
The key events of the case, from the Legionnaires’ outbreak through to the sentencing of Gillian Beckingham and Barrow Council.
Expert report: what really happened
Why was Barrow Council acquitted of corporate manslaughter? And why is it so difficult to currently secure such convictions? Kathryn Gilbertson, solicitor on the Beckingham defence team, reports.
Body of evidence
Why did the jury decide that Beckingham was negligent but not grossly negligent? This in-depth article looks at the main points and issues of the case as presented by the defence andthe prosecution during the trial.
Directors’ liability insurance: the facts
What is directors’ liability insurance and who needs it?
Prosecution: minimising the risk
Information and advice for employers about what they can do to minimise the risk of being prosecuted for corporate manslaughter and similar offences.
How Workplace Law can help
Details of how Workplace Law can help you ensure that you and your business don’t fall foul of corporate manslaughter legislation.
Case law
Legal experts offer their advice to employers on the implications of recent case law.
Technical guidance
Age discrimination: it’s not too late to prepare; No smoke without fire — banning smoking in the workplace; and Discrimination: managers can be personally liable for bullying by others.
Clinic
Is it the title ‘director’ that makes you responsible, or is it the role you play in the day-to-day running of the company?
Analysis
Attitudes to business continuity post 7/7.
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