The Act will place greater responsibility on firms to ensure that they put in place stringent health and safety procedures. Failure to do so could lead to a business being publicly named and shamed, and fined up to 10% of its annual turnover should a death occur as a result of ‘gross management failure’. This is where a company’s conduct falls considerably short of the duty of care it owed to the deceased.

"Because of the relatively high instances of road fatalities, business owners in the transport industry – and those who provide company cars – should make sure their employees are fully aware of health and safety best practice," said the FPB’s Policy Representative, Matt Goodman. "The Corporate Manslaughter Act means that they must establish clear health and safety procedures, and monitor them, or face heavy fines and public censure."

Lionel Stanton, the Chief Operating Officer of Planned Logistics Ltd, a distribution and logistics consultant based in Knutsford, Cheshire, regularly manages the movement of freight vehicles.

"There are already regulations in place in the transport industry relating to working hours, such as the Working Time Directive (WTD). In addition, there are ever more vehicle tracking devices so you can monitor where your trucks are," said Mr Stanton. "You just can’t be responsible for every driver who breaks the rules by the way they are driving. As long as the vehicles are well-maintained and roadworthy, the director of a small business shouldn’t be held responsible."

He added: "The Act also means that firms must ensure their employees are given the correct training, and that the proper health and safety procedures are in place – perhaps this could be linked to contracts of employment. I’m not sure that many smaller businesses in the transport industry, and elsewhere, are doing this."

A spokesman for the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed that business owners should be aware that they will be more responsible for preventing accidents in company vehicles.

"If a company were regularly requiring long hours of driving, not maintaining cars, or if it required people to use their mobile phone whilst driving, and any of this type of behaviour caused the fatality, the company would be in the frame," she said. "Since there are 3,000 road fatalities per year, as opposed to around 300 workplace fatalities, then this is where the focus should lie."

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