Employee health and safety 'must move up firms' priority list'

The implications of the new Corporate Manslaughter Act are "impossible to predict", however businesses must ensure staff wellbeing is one of their top priorities, one industry figure has claimed.

Writing for SMEweb.com, Pierre-Emmanuel Tetaz, managing director of Etap-on-line, claims the new legislation, which came into force on April 6th, will have serious consequences for those companies which fail to meet the requirements it sets out.

Firms found to be negligent in the case of an employee's death will be subject to heavy financial penalties Mr Tetaz claims, before adding these fines could start at around five per cent of a business' turnover.

Coupled with new recommendations from the Sentencing Guidelines Council, set to be announced in the Autumn, the impetus is on bosses to ensure staff are protected in the workplace as well as when they are travelling, he believes.

"The full impact of the act is impossible to predict but it is becoming apparent that the health and safety of employees must move up the priority lists of all businesses," Mr Tetaz wrote for the website.

Earlier this year, Ian Mayers, a partner at law firm Mills and Reeve, told The Business the law will make it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions against negligent employers.