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Dying for a job: Avoiding the Blame for Work-Based Fatalities
A Company is more than the sum of its Directors
Remember that when you create a limited company, you set up a legal entity which is separate from its directors. This protects the directors from financial liabilities (they can only be liable for the debts incurred by the firm to the extent to which they have invested in the company). But it also cuts their individual safety responsibilities, because it is the company that bears most of the safety duties.
A firm can be prosecuted for manslaughter only if a director or a very senior manager is prosecuted. The only directors prosecuted, therefore, are those involved in small companies who have day-to-day hands-on control.
Directors of large firms which are flouting health and safety regulations only need to keep a distance between themselves and the risks created by their companies to be virtually immune from prosecution. As long as they delegate the responsibility for safety to subordinates further down the chain of command, they should avoid prosecution.