Directors and senior managers who may be lulled into a false sense of security over the lack of corporate manslaughter convictions since 2008 have been warned against making cuts that might adversely impact on safety.
The warning comes from law firm Pinsent Masons, which revealed that the number of corporate manslaughter cases opened by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for England and Wales has risen by almost 20 in each of the years since the legislation came into force.
The CPS opened 63 new corporate manslaughter cases last year – an increase of 40 per cent, from 45 in 2011. In 2009 – the first full year of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 – there were seven investigations, which rose to 26 in 2010.
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