The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act came into effect this week. Under the new law companies, organisations and, for the first time, government bodies face a criminal offence and larger fines if they are found to have caused death due to their gross corporate health and safety failures. The Corporate Manslaughter Act is a landmark in law and the culmination of ten years of campaigning by unions and other groups. Well-run businesses that already have effective systems in place for managing health and safety have nothing to fear from the new legislation. But employees of companies, consumers and other individuals will be offered greater protection against the worst cases of corporate negligence. The new law will focus the minds of those in companies and other organisations by ensuring that they take health and safety obligations seriously. Justice Minister Maria Eagle said: "The law ensures improved justice for victims of corporate failures. The Act provides that companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter on the basis of gross corporate failures in health and safety. 'We are sending out a very powerful deterrent message to those organisations which do not take their health and safety responsibilities seriously."