The news of the capsized Costa Concordia liner has dominated the press over the last few days and whereas it is too early at this stage to know the extent of the tragedy or understand fully the circumstances leading up to the events; the owners Costa Cruises have publicly announced they believe the Captain is to blame for not following the company procedures and health & safety guidelines.
Kim Comments: "In cases like this criminal charges can be brought for Corporate Manslaughter. From an employment perspective within the UK, the organisation would also be wise to conduct their own internal investigation before taking any action against the employee. For example any disciplinary action taken without a full and thorough investigation would give an organisation little defence in an unfair dismissal claim. External pressures and investigations could hinder or even halt anything an organisation may wish to do in order to follow their own procedures which can cause some frustration to all concerned."