£385,000 fine imposed after first conviction for corporate manslaughter

Bristol Crown Court has fined a company £385,000 following the first conviction of company directors for corporate manslaughter since the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007 became law.

The conviction followed the death of a geologist,  Alex Wright, employed by Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings in 2008 when a deep trench in which he was working collapsed.

The fine is actually slightly below the minimum threshold of £500,000 recommended by the Sentencing Guidelines on Corporate Manslaughter issued in February 2010, a reflection, the judge said, of the “parlous financial state” of the company.

The guidelines suggest that fines for corporate manslaughter offences should “seldom” be less than £500,000 and should run to millions of pounds for more serious offences committed by larger organisations - well above those usually levied for breaches of health and safety law.

The guidelines identify a number of factors that would increase the seriousness of the offence, including the foreseeability of injury, whether non-compliance was common and widespread within the organisation, and how far up the organisation responsibility for the breach went.

Other factors aggravating the offence and raising the fine above the relevant minimum include:

* the number of deaths and serious injury caused
* injury to vulnerable persons
* failure to heed warnings or respond to near misses of a similar nature
* cost-cutting, and
* deliberate failure to obtain or comply with relevant licences.

Related articles:

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Local authorities and other public sector bodies face fines running into millions if guilty of corporate manslaughter