First corporate manslaughter conviction delivers £385,000 penalty
Feb 21, 2011
The first company to stand trial under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has been fined £385,000 after being found guilty by the jury at Winchester Crown Court.
The conviction of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd came after a two-week trial at the court, where the company answered charges by the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to the death of an employee in 2008.
In sentencing on 17th February, the judge confirmed the company could pay the fine over 10 years, with £38,500 due every year of that period. The company does not have to pay any costs. The fine is lower than was probably expected in light of the recent sentencing guidelines, but the company was reported to have had a turnover of only £333,000 so the fine is still significant.
The deceased, a junior geologist, had been left working alone in a 3.5m deep trench to ‘finish up’ after the managing director of the company had left for the day. A short while later, the trench collapsed on the employee and buried him. On hearing his cry for help, one of the plot-owners called the emergency services while another ran to the trench where he found the man buried up to his head. He climbed into the trench and removed some of the soil to enable the junior geologist to breathe, but a further torrent of earth fell into the pit, covering him completely. Despite the plot-owner’s best efforts to free him, the geologist died of asphyxiation.
The managing director had originally been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, as well as a health and safety offence, in his own capacity - but these charges were dropped after a successful application by his defence team last October on the grounds of his poor health. The company also originally faced a separate health and safety offence, but this was dropped by the prosecution in January this year after the judge raised the issue of whether the two different burdens of proof for the two remaining charges might confuse a jury.
In convicting the company on 15th February, the jury found that the company’s system of work in digging trial pits was wholly and unnecessarily dangerous. The company ignored industry guidance, which prohibited entry into excavations more than 1.2 metres deep, by requiring junior employees to enter into and work in unsupported trial pits, typically from 2 to 3.5 metres deep.
The senior police officer, who investigated the case with the support of the HSE, described the company’s approach to health and safety as “cavalier”, and the way it taught and supervised its junior engineers as “inherently dangerous”.
A solicitor stated that the physical stress of the process will not have been lost on those holding senior positions. It is also well documented that the managing director has been very ill, in no small part due to the stress of being charged with manslaughter in his own right and the undoubted impact on his business.
This case highlights the need for companies to have robust health & safety procedures in place. For a review of your current arrangements or for further information on how Wilby Risk Management can work with your business to reduce risk contact Mark Dalton mark.dalton@wilbyltd.co.uk or if you’re on LinkedIn why not connect with Mark to discuss this issue further?
