In one case a worker crumbing plastic at the end of a 12-hour shift was pulled into a mincing machine. The machine was guarded by a lid, with a switch to prevent operation of the mincer when the lid was raised to feed in plastic. A worker died after being sprayed in the face with toxic chemicals while cleaning a tanker. The Crown Prosecution Service handled the case, with the HSE taking on the breaches of Health and Safety regulations involved. Moreover, it was ruled that a series of faults by different individuals could not be aggregated to establish a case of manslaughter against the company.
Crime is what society, through the courts or parliament, defines as such.
In modern times a company is treated as a person for legal reasons, but it was not always so, as Slapper explains. This is not a problem when dealing with its financial liabilities, including fines for infringing the safety laws, but beyond that the concept of punishment becomes elusive. Since it is unlikely ever to be acceptable to imprison a group of people for the crime of one, any penalties are likely to be financial or symbolic. Even the definition of manslaughter in British law is problematic, and in a state of flux, as Slapper explains. This is due mainly to judges reinterpreting the law, and a Law Commission review could, in time, produce a change in the law.