Accountability for all

Michael Caplan's concerns (see [2000] Gazette, 13 July, 14) that solicitors could end up in the dock as a result of the proposed corporate homicide legislation, though arguably unlikely, will not worry anyone - except solicitors.To start a process that removes any undertaking from the threat of prosecution and places them in the 'advantageous' position of merely having to face a charge under existing health and safety law, is to give them a 'get out of jail free' card.

The current legislation is inadequate and poorly enforced.

With the slim chance of being convicted (if current statistical trends are anything to go by) under current law, the need for every undertaking to wake up to their responsibilities has never been more pressing.The Simon Jones Memorial Campaign believes that the current proposals should cover every employer, with the people who work in our justice system showing their support of this principle by welcoming being subjected to the same controls and laws as everyone else.

For if solicitors could justify exclusion, how easier would it be for the unscrupulous members of society who are prepared to risk killing workers, also to avoid accountability?

Ray Deans, Simon Jones Memorial Campaign, Wolverhampton