Safr Consultancy

A Cotswold firm, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings and one of its directors will be the first to be prosecuted under the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 as a result of the death of Mr Alexander Wright, a junior geologist, who was killed when a pit in which he was working collapsed on 5 September 2008. Great interest will be expressed in this case because answers to the exact meaning of the terms Тsenior managerУ and Тfalling reasonably shortУ may be found as a result of the trial process.

If a conviction is secured or if a guilty plea is entered, a marker will be put down regarding the severity of the fines that may be expected under this new Act.

An area of confusion with this Act has been the issue of individual liability with many being unsure as to whether or not directors can still be prosecuted because Section 18 does not appear to confer secondary liability, making it seem that only a company can be prosecuted under this particular Section.