Corporate Manslaughter legislation gains momentum

Company fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £87,000 costs after 2-tonne block falls on mason’s mate

BRISTOL and Bath-based Cavendish Masonry have become the second company this year – and the seventh to date – to be prosecuted under the Corporate Manslaughter legislation that came into force in April 2008.

The first prosecution under Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 was in March 2011, when Cotswold Geotechnical were fined £385,000 after a geologist was crushed to death when an unsupported trench he was working in collapsed on top of him in September 2008.

Legal experts say a growing number of cases are now coming to fruition and more companies are being found guilty under the legislation. The recommended lower-end benchmark for fines under the Act is £500,000, although none of the convictions to date have reached this amount.

In the latest case, Cavendish Masonry were ordered to pay a total of £237,000 following the death of 23-year-old mason’s mate David Evans in February 2010. He was killed when a 2-tonne block of limestone fell on him as it was being lifted into place during renovation work at the Well Barn Estate, near Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

In May this year, Cavendish Masonry were convicted at Oxford Crown Court of corporate manslaughter resulting from a gross breach of their duty of care towards Mr Evans, and they have been waiting since then to be fined. The company’s legal defence had argued that if the fine was too large the firm would go into liquidation and none of the money would be paid.

Imposing the penalty on 19 November, Judge Patrick Eccles QC said that while the fine of £150,000 with £87,117.69 in costs did not match the gravity of the offence, it would be better to impose a smaller penalty that the company had some hope of paying. Cavendish Masonry were given five years to pay.

Following the guilty verdict in May, Health and Safety Executive Inspector Peter Snelgrove said: ‘David Evans’ tragic death was completely avoidable, had Cavendish Masonry properly planned and managed the installation of the heavy limestone. The drawings for the work were wholly insufficient and the overall execution of the project fell significantly below the standard required and expected of a competent masonry company.’