Discuss briefly the salient features of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, 2007 of the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act introduced a new offence, across the UK, for prosecuting companies and other organisations where there has been a gross failing, throughout the organisation, in the management of health and safety with fatal consequences. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a landmark in law. For the first time, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care. The Act, which came into force on 6 April 2008, clarifies the criminal liabilities of companies including large organisations where serious failures in the management of health and safety result in a fatality. Prosecutions will be of the corporate body and not individuals, but the liability of directors, board members or other individuals under health and safety law or general criminal law, will be unaffected. And the corporate body itself and individuals can still be prosecuted for separate health and safety offences. Companies and organisations should keep their health and safety management systems under review, in particular, the way in which their activities are managed and organised by senior management.