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Pemberton, Simon --- "Moral Indifference and Corporate Manslaughter: Compromising Safety in the Name of Profit?" [2005] ELECD 204; in Tully, Stephen (ed), "Research Handbook on Corporate Legal Responsibility" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: Research Handbook on Corporate Legal Responsibility

Editor(s): Tully, Stephen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843768203

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Moral Indifference and Corporate Manslaughter: Compromising Safety in the Name of Profit?

Author(s): Pemberton, Simon

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

10 Moral indifference and corporate
manslaughter: compromising safety in
the name of profit?
Simon Pemberton1



Evil should not be unrecognised merely because it is as banal as indifference; indif-
ference rather than intent may well be the greater cause of avoidable human suffer-
ing . . . (Box, 1983: 21)

Introduction
Many of us in western societies view corporations to be integral to the high
standards of living we experience. Equally, it is true to say that few of us
reflect upon the harmful consequences of corporations' profit-seeking activi-
ties. In fact to some readers it may come as a bit of a shock to read the levels
of fatalities caused by corporate activity. In 2002/03, according to the figures
of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 227 workers died from fatal
injuries (HSE, 2003). Unfortunately, this figure is only the tip of the iceberg.
Tombs (1998: 78) suggests that the data are `far from complete'. Glaring
omissions include the exclusion of deaths in certain sectors (for example, sea
fishing; deaths of workers in road traffic accidents; and deaths resulting from
occupational-related diseases), thus, taking the employee death toll each year
into the thousands. Slapper's (1999) empirical study of deaths at work
revealed that between 1965­95, there were a total of two manslaughter convic-
tions. However, during this period 20,000 people were killed in work-related
accidents and this does not include the estimated 10,000 or more who die
every year from work-related medical conditions. ...