The number of directors and senior managers prosecuted under section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 has increased by more than 400% in the last five years, according to unofficial Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures released in response to a freedom of information request.
In October last year, solicitor Lee Hughes asked the regulator various questions regarding prosecutions of individual directors over the last 12 years. The figures reported back show that 43 directors and/or senior managers and company secretaries were prosecuted under section 37 of the Act in 2010/11 - the highest since 1999/2000. The total also represents a significant increase on the 12-year period's low of 10 prosecutions in 2005/06, and follows the period's previous high of 36 - recorded in both 2008/09 and 2009/10.
The total number of senior managers and directors prosecuted under section 37 in 2010/11 was 35. Of these, seven faced charges as a result of an investigation that followed a fatal accident; 15 were prosecuted for offences that resulted from an investigation where there had not been a fatal accident; and 21 resulted from an investigation where no incident of any nature had occurred.
Following conviction, three directors were disqualified for periods of between four and five years under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Data on this subject was not available before 2008/09, a year in which three directors were also disqualified. None were disqualified in 2009/10.
Disqualification is not however confined to section 37 breaches of the Act, other reasons can include breaches of sections 3, 7, 8 and 36, as well as a contravention of improvement or prohibition notices. In September last year, the Lib Dems put forward a policy paper advocating that the power to disqualify an individual from being a company director should be extended to include a serious failure to protect employees' well being. This is in addition to calls for the voluntary Institute of Directors/HSE Code of Practice on Directors' Duties to be made statutory.
