» Back to listing Death at work prosecutions likely to escalate

Lawyers are predicting a sharp rise in the number of British companies that will be prosecuted for failing to prevent the deaths of employees in the workplace, as health and safety authorities step up enforcement of tough corporate manslaughter laws.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the Crown Prosecution Service is looking at 56 cases in which the death of a worker could lead to criminal charges against their employer.

Companies can face unlimited fines if they are found responsible for the manslaughter of an employee, under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which came into force in April 2008. To date the CPS has brought only two prosecutions against companies in England and one in Northern Ireland. Another three prosecutions are under way but have yet to come to court, officials at the prosecution service said.

But lawyers at Pinsent Masons, who obtained the figures from the CPS, said that those cases were only the “tip of the iceberg”. Simon Joyston-Bechal, a health and safety specialist at the law firm, said the large number of cases being considered by prosecutors was indicative of a drive for greater enforcement of the corporate manslaughter laws — although not all would result in criminal charges.