Corporate killing

A. Ridley and L. Dunford (1997) Corporate Killing - Legislating for Unlawful Death, Industrial Law Journal, 26 99-113. 

B. Sullivan (2001) Corporate Killing - Some Government Proposals, Criminal Law Review, 31-39. 

In response to these concerns, in 1996 the Law Commission published proposals for a new offence of corporate killing which would be a more serious offence than those under the Health and Safety at Work Act. A company would be guilty of the proposed offence if a management failure by the corporation is the cause or one of the causes of a person s death and that failure constitutes conduct falling far below what can reasonably be expected in the circumstances. Although such an offence would be intended... 

Proposals for the introduction of a special offence of corporate killing where a company s management failure in causing a death fell far below what could be reasonably expected. 

The emphasis is now shifting away from the employer responsible towards the individual responsible . One reason for the introduction of the offence of corporate killing is to allow individual directors to be more clearly... 

Moves towards the introduction of the new offence of corporate killing are considered likely to succeed in the future, following a major review by the Law Commission. At present, where directors and managers knew, or ought to have known, that a serious and obvious risk of death existed, a charge of manslaughter can be brought. The maximum penalty for this is life imprisonment. The present law requires that reckless boardroom behaviour must be proved, and be attributable to an individual. 

Corporate killing, applicable to companies this is intended to make a company accountable in criminal law where conduct falls far below that which can be reasonably expected in the circumstances. The proposed maximum penalty here is for an unlimited fine and a remedial order that is designed to prevent the original cause of the accident. In addition, directors might well be liable to disqualification. 

The UK Home Secretary has made it clear that he intends to reform the law to make it easier to identify and convict those responsible for corporate killing. It is generally accepted that a company and/or a corporation must operate responsibly but the current debate on corporate killing really starts with the current involuntary manslaughter law, which has proved to be ineffective when applied to corporate killing. 

According to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), a series of gas blowouts has occurred at two waste injection wells in the state (Brower el al., 1989). In each case, well operators were injecting concentrated hydrochloric acid into a dolomite bed. At its plant near Tuscola, the Cabot Corporation injects acid waste from the production of fumed silica into the Cambrian Eminence and Potosi Formations below 5 000 ft (1 500 m) depth. Allied Chemical Corporation injects acid into the Potosi formation below about 3 600 ft (1 100 m). The acid, which is contaminated with arsenic, is a byproduct of the manufacture of refrigerant gas. Since some of the blowouts have caused damage such as fish kills, there is environmental interest as well as operational concern in preventing such accidents. 

Event 5 Toxic Chemical Leak—Methyl isocyanate (MIC). Union Carbide Corporation, Bhopal, India (December 3, 1984). 3,000-7,000 people killed immediately 20,000 cumulative deaths 200,000-500,000 injured post-traumatic stress continued medical consequences (Lees 1996). 

On December 3, 1984, a toxic gas release from a pesticide plant in India killed nearly 3000 people and injured at least 100,000 others. The chemical that leaked was methyl isocyanate, a chemical intermediate that was supposed to be stored in a cooled bunker near the plant s outer boundary. The vapor is highly toxic and causes cellular asphyxiation and rapid death. Despite engineering and procedural provisions to prevent its release, a total system breakdown resulted in the release of 40 tons of the deadly material into the densely populated community of Bhopal. Because of this incident, the plant was dismantled and ultimately the parent corporation. Union Carbide, was forced to make a number of organizational changes. The occurrence is considered by many to have been the most tragic chemical accident in history. 

Paul Hermann Muller received a degree in chemistry and worked for the J. R. Geigy Corporation, which later became part of Novartis (McGrayne 2001). Geigy specialized in dyestuffs for woolens. Chemists at the company discovered a chlorinated hydrocarbon compound that protected woolens from clothes moths, but it was a stomach poison. Geigy then searched for other insecticides that killed other pests. Natural insecticides made from plants include pyrethrum from chrysanthemum, rotenone from a tropical... 

Such a chain of events, Union Carbide Corp. believes, explains the gas leak that killed 2,500 people and injured thousands more in Bhopal on Dec. 2 and 3, 1984. The company insists that sabotage—not sloppy corporate practices in the Third World—caused what has been called the worst industrial disaster in history. [6]... 

Animals. Male guinea pigs (Himalayan spotted) were maintained prior to the experiment on a vitamin-C-free diet (Nutritional Biochemical Corporation) supplemented with 0.5 g of ascorbic acid/kg of diet and fortified with all other vitamins (11). The initial weight was 309 22 (g sd), at the time of sacrifice of the animals 327 37 (g sd). During the experiment the animals had free access to water and diet. Altogether twenty-eight animals were taken into the experiment. At each time point one animal was killed. 

In an attempt to improve the foliar persistence of Bt insecticidal activity, Mycogen Corporation has developed the MCap delivery system, based on an rDNA microorganism that expresses a Bt toxin, but has been killed via heat and chemical treatment prior to field release Q). Because the organisms are dead, this product has the additional advantage of relative freedom from the environmental and safety concerns associated with outdoor testing of living rDNA organisms. 

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