Corporate Manslaughter - Skip company fined £600,000
A recent case against a skip company has reinforced the importance of having adequate health and safety policies and procedures in place.
An employee of Bilston Skips Ltd was killed when he was working in two large skips, accessible only via a metal ladder on the side, in order to rearranging garden rubbish for compression. It was not clear, following investigation, whether he had been knocked into the skip by a nearby JCB arm or whether he had fallen in.
There was no record of any health and safety qualified individual on site. The manager confirmed that he had no health and safety training and that there was no system in place to report or record any incidents.
The company was charged with corporate manslaughter and breaching section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (the Act).
The manager was charged with gross negligence manslaughter and one count under section 37 of the Act (an offence committed by a company with the consent, connivance or attributable to the neglect of a director or manager). The manager pleaded guilty to the s 37 offence and was found guilty by the jury of gross negligence manslaughter.
The manager was sentenced to two years' imprisonment suspended for a period of two years. The company, which is now in liquidation, was fined £600,000.
Posted on 09/06/2016 by Ortolan
