Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/501/3116
From The Socialist newspaper, 13 September 2007
Bosses get away with murder
On 28 August, two firms ICL Plastics and ICL tech were fined a paltry £400,000 after admitting four charges of negligence, which resulted in the deaths of nine workers. A further 33 workers were injured in a gas explosion in May 2004, when their factory collapsed.
Liam O Connolly, Glasgow
Lord Brodie at the High Court in Glasgow said the breach of health of safety law was at the "lower end of the scale".
How the loss of nine lives can be at the lower end of any scale is beyond belief, especially when the court heard how it would have cost a mere £405 to inspect and replace the pipeline and prevent the explosion.
The £400,000 fine is an insult to the relatives of the victims. One said: "we are devastated, absolutely devastated. I just feel as if they got off lightly".
There should be a full public enquiry into this disaster and new corporate killing laws need to be introduced to hold employers to account.
But this alone is not enough, companies such as ICL who put profit before safety should be taken into immediate public ownership.
This disaster is yet another tragic example of bosses literally getting away with murder.
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In The Socialist 13 September 2007:
Fighting Unions Need a New party
Postal workers: "We have the power!"
TUC conference: Standing up to Brown's attacks
Needed: a combative trade union movement
War and terrorism
Workplace news and events
Tube workers' strike scores victory
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Manchester cuts maternity services
Leeds - no more deficits and cuts
APEC summit
APEC summit: Thousands defy police crackdown
Socialist Party news and analysis
Overcrowded prisons, overworked staff
Socialist Party feature
Tory party struggles to recapture territory taken by New Labour
International news and analysis
Socialist Party review
Robert Blincoe - a life that illuminates an age
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