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Private
Members Bill
A
bill that would impose safety duties upon company
directors received its first reading on 12 January
2005. The Bill has been tabled by Labour MP Stephen
Hepburn who came third in this years Ballot of MPs
for Private Members Bills.
It
will recieve its second reading on Friday 4 March
2004
The
Bill is based on an original Ten Minute Rule Bill
drafted by Ross Cranston QC and the Centre for Corporate
Accountability. The Bill is supported by the TGWU,
UCATT, TUC, safety charities, bereaved families and
safety campaign groups.
In
summary the Bill would:
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impose
a duty upon all company directors to take "all
reasonable steps to ensure that their company
complies with health and safety law" |
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it
requires the Health and Safety Commission to draft
an Approved Code of Practice setting out what
was required of directors to comply with the duty |
| • |
it
require large companies (those not defined as
small or medium by the terms of the Companies
Act 1985) to appoint a Health and Safety Information
Director who would be responsible for ensuring
that the Board of directors received information
about helath and safety matters within the company |
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It
allows HSE and Local Authority inspectors to impose
an improvement notice upon directors if they do
not comply with their obligations |
| • |
The
Bill ammends Section 37 of the Health and Safety
At Work Act 1974 to ensure that the new duties
can be taken into account in determinging whether
a company director has comitted an offence under
this section |
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The CCA has produced a question
and answer briefing about the Bill, to read this,
click here |
Ross Cranston: Company Directors (Health and Safety)
Bill
On Tuesday, 25 March 2003, Ross Cranston, Labour MP
for Dudley North presented a 10-minute rule bill to
the House of Commons to give company directors a stronger
legal duty towards Health and Safety.
To Download Parliamentary Debate, Click
Here (word)
The Bill's 'Second Reading' never took place.
In
his Press Release Ross Cranston stated:
"Over
the years we have seen examples of health and safety
failures by companies which result in death and
injury of employees and others. Many companies have
very high standards, but we need to raise everyone’s
standard to that level. The appalling Paddington
and Clapham rail disasters are well known failures,
but there have been others due to low health and
safety standards. In 2001-2, the deaths of 109 members
of the public and 249 workers were reported to the
Health and Safety Executive and local authorities.
In the West Midlands itself, there were 13 deaths
reported to the authorities – nine of which
were workers
‘I believe that the law needs strengthening
so these standards can be raised. Companies’
should be required to give health and safety issues
much higher priority in the way they operate. My
Bill aims to do this. The Company Directors’
(Health and Safety) Bill2 imposes general health
and safety duties on directors. The Bill also requires
companies to designate a particular director to
be responsible for health and safety. Under the
law they would have particular responsibilities
such as monitoring health and safety and ensuring
the right systems are in place in the company to
do that monitoring. They would also be required
to report significant health and safety failures
to other directors and also any recommendations
for change.
The
Bill has the support of the TUC. Brendan Barber, General
Secretary Elect for the TUC said:
‘Ross Cranston MP deserves praise for introducing
this Bill that deserves support across the House
of Commons. It is surely not too much to ask that
every company makes a director responsible for the
safety its staff and customers. And it’s good
for business, if injuries are avoided then it will
save companies money.’
To
Download Ross Cranston's Briefing on the Bill. Click
Here
To download a briefing done by the House of Commons
Library, Click
Here (PDF)
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