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14 April 2010 - No embargo

When will senior directors of companies such as Corus be held personally accountable for their serial killing and injuring workers?

The Hazards Campaign asks the leaders of the political parties to tell us where they stand on employers who kill and injure their workers, and especially those who do it again and again:

"When will senior directors of companies such as Corus be held personally accountable for their serial killing and injuring workers?”

Following the latest fine against Corus UK Ltd for not preventing the death of Ross Beddow, the Hazards Campaign says given the history of repeated criminality of the company (see below) and the deadly nature of their crimes - why hasn't any senior director been called to account in the courts for causing all this death, disability and injury?

Corus's abysmal health and safety record is illustrated by the 16 separate entries in the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) prosecutions database which relate to death and injury, AND......... the 24 separate entries in the HSE's notices database, including many stop work notices, since 2001. These incidents include the Port Talbot furnace explosion where Stephen Galsworthy, 25, Andrew Hutin, 20, and Len Radford, 53 were all killed in 2001.

The Hazards Campaign calls upon the leaders of political parties to explain where they stand on this issue of the failure of the existing legal system to change the behaviour of a company,  what they would do about it and why those individuals who ran this deadly company at the time have not been personally called to answer in court. 

The Hazards Campaign believes the evidence shows that directors of companies with a similar record will get away with it too, unless a positive legal duty to be responsible for the health and safety of their organisation is imposed on all directors.  This does not feature in the manifesto of any of the political parties and we wonder why.

Corus has faced several ‘large fines’ for killing and injuring workers.  While the fine of £1.3 million, plus £1.7 million costs imposed on Corus in December 2006 for the killing of three workers in the Port Talbot furnace explosion, was heralded was exemplary, may seem large, it has not stopped them from committing more offences and injuring and killing more workers. It should also be noted that after that large fine Corus took deliver of a new £75 million blast furnace courtesy of their insurance.  Fines  may look large but are a drop in the ocean of the company's turnover and profits and act as no real deterrent as Corus has shown. Again and again.

The Hazards Campaign says company directors and employers will not give due regard to preventing workplace death, disability, injury and ill-health until they are held personally liable and we want to know which political party will act to put a stop to this corporate crime wave.

Hazards Campaign:

Hazards Campaign: www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/index.htm

Ends

The Hazards Campaign, c/o Greater Manchester Hazards Centre, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road,
Manchester, M16 7WD . website www.hazardscampaign.org.uk