Labour Wants Life in Prison for Bosses If Work Failures Kill Someone

Labour would create a new corporate homicide law if elected. People could face life in prison and companies could be fined up to $10 million. RNZ

To convict someone, prosecutors would have to prove three links in a chain. They would need to show a duty of care, which means a legal responsibility to keep people safe, that a person was put at risk of death or serious injury, and that a death followed.

Workplace relations and safety spokesperson Jan Tinetti said Labour wrote the policy with unions, employers and families of Pike River victims.

The wider context here is why that group matters. It means workers, business and victims’ families were in the room before a law goes to Parliament. That is different from waiting until a select committee, a small group of MPs that checks new laws, asks for views later.

Families of those killed at Pike River have asked for this law for a long time, and campaigner Sonya Rockhouse called the policy "fantastic". Her 21-year-old son Ben was among those killed, and Anna Osborne’s husband Milt also died there. A methane explosion at the coal mine in 2010 killed 29 workers.

Unions have made a similar call. They released a policy asking the Government to bring in corporate manslaughter, on the 15th anniversary of Pike River. Labour says corporate homicide. The unions said corporate manslaughter. RNZ

Looking at what this means for Parliament, both ideas cover the same ground. They would punish a death that follows a safety failure, not just the final act. Since 2010, the hard part has been linking a death on site to decisions made in offices above. Labour’s three-part test sets a high bar. Backing from families and unions gives the pledge weight in a campaign. Employers will ask close questions about scope, defences and how it fits with current safety law. Whether it is a standalone homicide law, how prosecutors choose to charge, and what judges do with life or $10 million will decide its use. The maximum is clear. How often it would be charged is not.