Blood in the Bank :Social and Legal Aspects of Death at Work

This book is based upon a detailed empirical study of 40 cases of commercially-related deaths – the first such English study. The cases are taken from 20 towns and cities in England. The author critically examines the theory and practice of the legal response to such deaths. The conduct of the Health and Safety Executive, the police, coroner, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service are analyzed in detail. The author executes his analysis in three stages: events are first scrutinized in the context of the law that governs them; the deaths and official responses are then considered in the context of the psychology of the decision–makers; and finally the dramas are looked at in a wider context of political economy. The author draws several disturbing conclusions. This novel approach and rigorous use of empirical evidence leads the author to point to many weaknesses, anomalies and deficiencies in the way the law and machinery of the state respond to deaths at work.

Contents: The theoretical framework: criminal law, manslaughter, the CPS, the police, the HSE, and the coronial inquest; The development of corporate liability and the scale of corporate risk-taking; The legal process (1): the police, the CPS and the HSE; The legal process (2): the inquest; Social perceptions of the dramatis personae; The historical and economic context; Legal, criminological and social science perspectives; Bibliography; Appendices.