Firm fined £385k over death

Gloucestershire-based Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd was convicted by a jury at Winchester Crown Court in less than two hours.

The case concerned the death of a junior geologist, Alexander Wright, who died while working on a project for the company in 2008. Wright, 27, was taking soil samples in an excavated pit when the sides collapsed, crushing him, according to prosecutors.

The judge, Mr Justice Field, said the company could pay the fine over 10 years. While it remains less than the starting point of £500,000 recommended by the Sentencing Guidelines Council, “It may well be that its payment will put this company into liquidation,” said the judge. “If that is the case, it’s unfortunate but unavoidable but it’s a consequence of the serious breach,” he said.

While the first of its kind, Jonathan Grimes, partner at law firm Kingsley Napley, said that the case, “Doesn’t tell us much about how the Act will operate, because the company and the controlling director were more or less the same thing. It will be far harder when you have a large company with a greater distance from the people at the top and those at the coalface who are responsible for the act that causes the death.

“Until we see a large company involved in a multiple fatality incident, we’re not going to see how the Act can cope with that kind of case.”