Letter: Corporate killers

Sir: The introduction of a new offence of "corporate killing" in response to industrial disasters would remove part of the responsibility of the individual for acting safely and with excellence. Each individual would be protected by their corporate umbrella.

Instead of encouraging company directors to scrutinise the actions of each employee lest their mistakes lead to that director being held responsible, we should be encouraging greater empowerment of the individual to, for example, stop the entire production line if a quality defect is suspected. Instead of making the corporate collective responsible for the individual employee, we should be trying to increase individual accountability.

SIMON BUCKINGHAM

Newbury, Berkshire