Jacobs, A (2007) Will the new offence of corporate manslaughter motivate companies to prioritise safety over profit? PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, UK.
Abstract
This thesis examines the current law and the new offence of corporate manslaughter alongside the health and safety regulations. This thesis contributes to the debate in three ways. Firstly, it assesses the current law and questions whether the new offence of corporate manslaughter will be effective in making companies prioritise safety over profit. Secondly, it evaluates the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and examines the ability of the Health and Safety Executive to be proactive and to provide a deterrent in advance of potential law breaking, whilst asking whether the solution might lie not in the reform of the crime of manslaughter but rather in enforcing a much tougher regulatory regime of health and safety. Thirdly, it considers the UK construction industry together with the contractual procurement methods in use, drawing on empirical data gathered through in-depth interviews with senior construction industry personnel and representatives from the Construction Workers Union (UCATT), the Institute of Directors (loD) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). There has been no substantial research that has sought to examine, as the author intends to do, injuries and deaths at work from a company perspective within two different contexts: the criminological and regulatory, whilst drawing on original empirical findings. Furthermore, scarce academic attention has been paid to the proposed new offence of corporate manslaughter. It is intended that this thesis will fill that gap and provide an up-to-date innovative contribution to the future development of this area of law.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction worker; crime; health and safety; interview; personnel; procurement; regulation; safety; UK |
| Index terms: | regulation, health and safety, society, injury, interview, personnel, profit, drawing, prevention, construction industry, construction worker, procurement method, health and safety executive |
| Subjects: | management, financial risk, health safety and environment, health conditions and diseases, political science, industry analysis, communities and social development, data collection methods, practitioner, technical documentation, economic analysis, contractual arrangements |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Procurement, Human Resources, Design Practice, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Governance, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here