On 23 April 2009, in what is believed to be the first prosecution under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 ("the Act"), the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised a charge of corporate manslaughter against Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd in relation to the death of Alexander Wright on 5 September 2008.

Mr Wright, who was employed by the company as a junior geologist, was taking soil samples from inside a pit, which had been excavated as part of a survey of a site near Stroud, when the sides of the pit collapsed, crushing him.

Peter Eaton, a director of the company, has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter and with an offence under section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 ("the HSWA"). Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd has also been charged with failing to discharge a duty under section 33 of the HSWA.

If convicted of corporate manslaughter, Mr Eaton could face a term of imprisonment (the maximum sentence being life imprisonment) and Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd could face an unlimited fine and a "publicity order" requiring the company to publicise details of the offence and the amount of the fine imposed.

The Act came into force on 6 April 2008. Under the new Act, a company can be held liable for causing a person's death, if the death arises from the way in which the company's activities are managed or organised and which amount to a gross breach of the relevant duty owed to the deceased. A substantial part of the breach must have been in the way activities were organised by senior management.

Mr Eaton will appear before Stroud Magistrates' Court on 17 June 2009.

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