Corporate Manslaughter - A Garden Centre is being prosecuted

Another English company has been charged with corporate manslaughter in relation to an incident that occurred two years ago, in which an employee died after a vehicle he was towing came into contact with overhead power lines.

This follows on from two previous prosecutions in England where Cotswold Geotechnical was the first company to be prosecuted and subsequently fined almost £400,000 after the death of an employee when a trench collapsed. Lion Steel became the second company to be successfully prosecuted and was fined £480,000 after an employee fell through a fragile roof. This case highlights that corporate manslaughter can be brought against any company, big or small.

The facts of the case

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has charged a Norfolk garden nursery with corporate manslaughter in relation to the death of an employee two years ago.

The employee died on 15 July 2010 from an electric shock, caused when the metal hydraulic-lift trailer he was towing came into contact with an overhead power line.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident on the same day and immediately served the company with two Prohibition Notices, relating to: the operation of vehicles of a certain height from coming into contact with or closely approaching the overhead power lines in the field adjacent to the nursery buildings; and the movement of metal irrigation pipework under the overhead lines without undertaking a suitable risk assessment and implementing a safe system of work.

A month later, a further Prohibition Notice was served to prevent the use of the trailer after the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) found that the brakes didn’t work. An Improvement Notice was also issued to the company to provide information, instruction and training for employees relating to transport and deliveries close to overhead power lines. The firm complied with all the notices.

A spokesperson from the CPS commented on the decision to prosecute the company: 

“I have carefully considered the evidence and have concluded that it is sufficient to charge the company with corporate manslaughter and with failing to discharge a duty imposed by section 2(1) of the HSWA 1974.”

The company has been summonsed to appear at King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court on 23 November. It is the third company the CPS has charged with corporate manslaughter since the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in 2008. Earlier this year, a farming company received the largest ever health and safety fine in Northern Ireland following the first corporate manslaughter conviction there.

The company issued a statement, through its solicitors, saying: 

“We have worked closely with the Police, the HSE and other agencies investigating the incident at the nursery. As formal legal proceedings are now underway, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on any aspect of the case at this time. 

“Everyone at the garden centre remains profoundly saddened by the death of the worker, and his family have been, and are constantly, in our thoughts.”

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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 extends to the Police

As of 01 September 2011, police forces, prison services and other authorities holding people in custody can now be charged under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings has become the first company to be convicted of the new offence of corporate manslaughter.

Back in September 2008 a young geologist was killed whilst working for Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings. He died while investigating soil conditions in a deep trench on a development plot in Stroud, when it collapsed and killed him.

The Crown Prosecution Service told the court that the geologist was left working alone in the three and a half metre-deep trench to 'finish-up' when the company director left for the day. The two people who owned the development plot decided to stay at the site as they knew the geologist was working alone in the trench. About quarter of an hour later they heard a muffled noise and then a shout for help. While one of the plot-owners called the emergency services, the other one ran to the trench where he saw that a surge of soil had fallen in and had buried the geologist up to his head. He climbed into the trench and removed some of the soil to enable him to breathe. At that point, more earth fell so quickly into the pit that it covered the geologist completely. Despite the plot owner’s best efforts, the young geologist died of traumatic asphyxiation.

The prosecution's case was that the geologist was working in a dangerous trench because Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings' systems had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect him from working in that way. The jury found that their system of work in digging trial pits was wholly and unnecessarily dangerous. The company ignored well-recognised industry guidance that 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 young geologist was working in just such a pit when he died.

There was no person in the dock during the three-week trial as it is the company, rather than an individual, that is charged with corporate manslaughter. The case was investigated by Gloucestershire Constabulary and supported by the Health and Safety Executive.

Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings were sentenced on Thursday 17 February 2011 and were fined £385,000.

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Latest (mid March 2011) - an appeal may be launched!