Corporate Manslaughter Appeal
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd has lost an appeal against conviction for corporate manslaughter. The BBC reports that the Court also upheld the company's £385,000 fine at the Court of Appeal in London last week.
The firm was convicted in February this year after geologist, Alexander Wright, died in 2008 after a pit he was working in collapsed. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd were the first company to be prosecuted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2008.
The company, which had a turnover of £333,000 in the year the incident occurred, was allowed to pay the £385,000 fine, which represents 116% of that turnover, over a ten-year period. Lord Judge said it was "unavoidable and inevitable" that the company would probably have to go into liquidation to pay the fine.
Interesting points to note from this case is the fact that the company were allowed to pay the fine over a period of time; the fine represented such a high percentage of turnover and the comments of the court in relation to the likely consequence of the case on the company.
Equipment Maintenance leads to HSE sentence.
A fairground operator has been sentenced after an 11-year-old girl suffered a serious head wound when she was thrown from a ride at a Birmingham park.
The Magistrates Court were told how on 19 April 2009 the girl was in a car on a ride called the DJ Jump when the lap bar failed. She was also unable to put on the secondary safety measure, a lap belt, that may have prevented her being thrown from the ride.
During the HSE prosecution of fairground operator and owner, Robert Wilkinson, the Court heard details of how the girl was thrown from the moving car and the injuries she suffered. This included a five centimetre head wound that required ten stitches, she also sustained numerous cuts and bruises.
The HSE investigation into the incident found the lap belts in the ride cars were poorly maintained and most had been so badly damaged they were unusable. Mr Wilkinson pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,708 costs.
Remember there is "Free guidance on safe practice at fairgrounds and amusement parks available from HSE website. This should be followed to ensure that members of the public, mostly children, are not put in danger.
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