Criminal charges for environmental accidents more common

In years past, on-the-job, environmental-related accidents rarely led to criminal charges, but that is changing.

Earlier this month, a Butler County grand jury indicted United Oil Recovery Services Inc. and several of its executives on criminal charges in the death of a worker at the company’s Middletown facility. The charges stem from an incident in 2008, when wastewater was allegedly treated improperly, causing a chemical reaction that killed an employee. Also recently, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation of BP plc (NYSE: BP) relating to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill started with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers.

Experts say the high-profile cases should send a wake-up call to businesses; they increasingly risk facing criminal charges in workplace accident cases as government agencies at the federal and state level appear to be cracking down. The government is using both environmental and regular criminal statutes to prosecute companies and executives.

Read the full story in the Dayton Business Journal