The Guardian view on the Grenfell Tower fire: Britain is letting companies pass the buck | Editorial
Victims received less compensation than shareholders in the company behind its flammable cladding. Parliament must make corporations pay for harm caused There is something profoundly wrong when the company behind Grenfell Tower’s flammable cladding paid more compensation to its shareholders than to victims of the disaster. Of Arconic’s £86m in Grenfell-related settlements, all but £1.5m was…
The Grenfell Tower fire claimed the lives of 72 people, including 18 children, in London in 2017. The disaster was attributed to the flammable cladding installed on the building, which was manufactured by Arconic. Despite this, Arconic only paid a fraction of the wider social cost - only £1.5m out of £86m in Grenfell-related settlements, with the rest covered by insurers.
The company behind the cladding has not faced criminal charges, leading to concerns over Britain's corporate accountability system. A new report by Common Wealth and FIND proposes two changes to address this issue. The first is a "failure to prevent" law that would hold companies responsible for having adequate systems to prevent foreseeable serious harm.
The second is to introduce "punitive damages", which would require companies to pay a substantial fine for their conduct. Such an award could fund remediation efforts, reducing the financial burden on the public.
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