Global Rise In Manslaughter & Officer Convictions Relating To Health & Safety Breaches

In recent months we have written about the growing trend of prosecuting individuals for health and safety breaches in Australia, particularly in relation to manslaughter charges.

This development is not just limited to Australia. Globally, we are witnessing an increase in the number of convictions of officers and workers for serious breaches of health and safety. The recent convictions of Kelvin Adsett in the United Kingdom and Don Blankenship in the United States, evidence a trend by regulators to focus on holding leaders of organisations to account as a means of achieving corporate compliance. Further, regulators are not confining themselves to prosecuting offenders for breaches of health and safety laws, but are instead widening their ambit to pursuing manslaughter and conspiracy charges.

Key takeaways include:

The number of manslaughter charges arising out of workplaces incidents, or following breaches of health and safety is on the rise, globally; Officers and workers are being personally prosecuted. These charges are not confined to health and safety legislation, but include manslaughter and conspiracy charges; and Regulators are pursuing offenders using a two-pronged approach of both general criminal laws and health and safety laws. United Kingdom

On 23 March 2017, Kelvin Adsett was convicted at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) of manslaughter by gross negligence and offences contrary to section 7a of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (UK). The charges arose out of an incident which occurred on 30 August 2012, when a member of the public, Amanda Telfer, aged 43, was crushed to death by wooden window frames weighing 655kg which were blown over in London's Hanover Square. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Adsett was the on-site project manager of the window installer, IS Europe Ltd.

In the lead up to the tragedy, a host of issues aligned. The wooden frames arrived earlier than anticipated, they were unable to be installed, and the principal contractor refused to allow them to be stored indoors. Consequently, the frames were left outside overnight, on the footpath, leaning against a wall unrestrained. Passers-by noted that they witnessed the frames 'swaying in the wind' prior to the accident. Given the weight and size of the frames, the prosecutor argued the frames posed a clear and serious risk to health and safety.

The court heard that the incident could easily have been ameliorated with a series of obvious and...