Orders of the Day — Health and Safety (Directors' Duties) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:11 am on 4 March 2005.

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Photo of Malcolm Bruce Malcolm Bruce Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 10:11, 4 March 2005

That has been borne out by the flow of my argument. I pointed out that safety measures for oil and gas companies do not stop accidents, but in most cases, accidents are investigated by health and safety officials, and in Scotland, if appropriate, there is a fatal accident inquiry. As a general rule, lessons are learned, but there is not a demand for a criminal prosecution. Officials look at what happened, what procedure was applicable and why it was not followed. However, I take an alternative view to Mr. Forth. In the case of Occidental oil management and Piper Alpha, for example, there was liability and negligence. Occidental board members in the United Kingdom should have been aware of the safety case for such an installation and should have known what could happen. The same is true of onshore refineries or any particularly dangerous plants.

The vast majority of directors and companies would, I hope, act responsibly. My experience post-Piper Alpha is that that culture is strong in the oil and gas industry, and I do not think that anyone wants a queue of cases in which directors are prosecuted and brought to court. The primary objective is to create an awareness mechanism to reduce the number of accidents, not to increase the number of prosecutions. Nevertheless, I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that, unfortunately, the worst practices may occur in medium-sized companies. They do not have the advantage of extensive training and corporate culture, but they should be aware of their responsibilities. They should be made aware that legally, if there is a serious or fatal accident in their company, they may be held liable, so they must ensure that they keep abreast of current practices in management techniques and operations.