The UK's Trades Union Congress has campaigned for a 'corporate manslaughter' charge for many years. There have been 35,000 on-site deaths during the last thirty years, but the UK's New Labour Government only promised to pass such a law if it won a third term in office.

As the TGWU's then deputy general secretary Jack Diomey pointed out, "the current law allows unscrupulous or disinterested directors to get away with murder ... The clunk of the cell door behind the first jailed director will result in immediate changes to safety practices on site".

UK courts appear to be taking industrial health and safety less seriously year on year. Average fines have recently fallen by a quarter.

Ed.- The European Commission has muddied the waters by suggesting that European Union companies operating in other member countries should be subject to the health and safety laws operating in their country of origin rather than those of their host country. The effect of this for workers in the UK is difficult to predict. Many European Union member states have far stricter health and safety legislation than the UK, but the opposite is also true. Whichever the case, it is essential that the UK Government regulates UK companies properly.