Corporate Responsibility

Corporate manslaughter laws were amended in April 2008 to make it easier to successfully prosecute anyone who fails in their duty of care for others. This is certain to affect local authorities and schools that have a responsibility for transporting children and also transport operators.

Schools and local authority need to protect themselves against a possible legal action by ensuring they are fulfilling their legal duty of care for anyone that they make transport arrangements for.  Often it is about having the right attitude to safety and demonstrating that the safety of others has been looked at.  Keeping an audit trail of how this has been done is essential. For more information on how best to achieve this contact BUSK

Publicity Orders

If a school or local authority are found guilty of the death of someone in their care, a court can impose a Publicity Order.  Put simply this means that the court can force the school or local authority to advertise in the media that they  have been found guilty for the death of someone.  Bad news indeed for a school, in particular a private school which could essentially spell the end of the school - what parent would choose to send their child to a school that admitted it was responsible for a child's death? In many respects this can be worse than a large fine.