Should punitive health and safety measures be reformed? Richard Harris reports
The government announced plans last month for the implementation of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA 2007) on 6 April 2008. While this has presented a whole new set of punitive measures for failing to comply with health and safety regulations, debate continues within the market place about the suitability of existing punitive measures.
In November 2006, Professor Richard Macrory published his report entitled Regulatory Justice: Making Sanctions Effective. Following upon recommendations made in the Hampton review, Reducing Administrative Burdens: Effective Inspection and Enforcement, covering general business regulation, the Macrory report was commissioned by the government specifically to examine the UK system of regulatory sanctions. Hampton had called for a risk-based sanctions regime in the regulatory sector, that is to say sanctions based on the risk of re-offending. Macrory addressed sanctioning issues in this context.
CURRENT SANCTIONS
There are currently over 60 non-financial regulators operating in the UK. Familiar examples with significant sanctioning powers include the Health & Safety Executive
