subject: Will new manslaughter law improve workplace health & safety? [print this page] Will new manslaughter law improve workplace health & safety?
News of the first firm to be convicted under a new corporate manslaughter law has received a cautious welcome from experts who hope to see Britain become a safer place for workers.
No win, no fee solicitors such as Claims Direct can help people who have suffered accidents at work through no fault of their own receive the compensation they deserve.
The consequences of accidents at work can be fatal a fact that the family of 27-year-old surveyor Alexander Wright knows only too well.
Mr Wright was taking soil samples in a pit while working for Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings in September 2008 when the pit caved in and collapsed on top of him. The pit was not supported by timbers.
A court decided that the Peter Eaton, the owner of the company which employed Mr Wright, was aware that pits more than four-feet dip should be supported by timber to prevent them from caving in and injuring workers.
The pit that Mr Wright was working in was 12-feet deep.
No one from Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings appeared in the dock during the three-week trial; the court was told that Mr Eaton, 61, is suffering from cancer and has only months to live.
Judge Justice Field told the jury that they should treat Mr Eaton as, in effect, being the company. A fine of 385,000 was imposed by the judge as a larger penalty would have left the company facing liquidation and jeopardised the jobs of the company's four other workers.
The fine is due to be paid over a ten-year period.
Justice Field commented that the approach to trial pitting displayed by Cotswold Holdings was "extremely irresponsible", adding: "Peter Eaton thought he knew better. He was gravely and culpably mistaken."
The new Corporate Manslaughter Act came into effect in April 2008 and was designed to scrutinise the role of those in senior positions regarding the implementing of health and safety regulations.
Craig McAdam of Russell Jones & Walker solicitors, commenting on the first conviction resulting from the new law, said: "The fact that Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings is run by a sole director who was on-site immediately prior to the accident taking place made it a relatively easy case to try.
The real test will come when a significantly larger company with a complex management structure is prosecuted."
The family of Mr Wright, reacting to the court's verdict to fine Cotswold Holdings, said: "Nothing can return Alex to us, but we hope today's sentence will make similar companies revisit their working practices so other families are spared a tragedy like this."
It is a sentiment which will be shared by all health and safety officials and campaigners who hope the new law will reduce the number of accidents that occur in UK workplaces.
