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Cath Everett

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Freelance journalist and former editor of HRZone

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News: Calls for ‘competency card’ after employer convicted of manslaughter

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Health and safety experts have called for a mandatory proof-of-competence card to be introduced for agriculture workers after a pig farm became among the first organisations to be convicted under the Corporate Manslaughter Act.

JMW Farms was fined a record £187,000 plus £13,000 in costs at Belfast Crown Court last Tuesday, following the death of Robert Wilson.
 
He had been working at a meal-mixing plant on a farm in Tynan, County Armagh, on 15 November 2010, but was killed when a metal bin fell from a forklift truck being driven by company director, Mark Wright, and crushed him. The bin had not been attached properly, the court heard, and the firm pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
 
But Richard Evens, commercial training director at the St Johns Ambulance, warned that the conviction must act as a wake-up call for businesses – and particularly those operating in high-risk sectors such as farming – to ensure that appropriate health and safety measures were put in place.
 
Agriculture has one of the highest rates of fatal and major workplace injuries at about 242 per 100,000 employees.
 
“In 2010/11, there were a total of 171 deaths in the workplace, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Though these were not necessarily due to employer negligence, this figure demonstrates that appropriate health and safety measures must be taken and strictly adhered to,” Evens said.
 
But business support consultancy, Elas, is keen to take things a step further. It said that it was lobbying for the introduction of mandatory health and safety training in areas ranging from working with animals to emergency procedures and dealing with chemicals and other hazardous substances.
 
If employees passed the course successfully, they would be given proof-of-competence cards, which would be valid for 12 months and provide them with a nationally recognised and transferrable qualification.
 
Wayne Dunning, Elas’s head of health and safety, said that such a system had been used in other high-risk industries such as construction for years and provided a cost-effective solution.
 
“Training would be provided on-site and could be delivered to groups of up to 15 people at once, enabling neighbouring businesses to share the cost of delivering the training,” he added.

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One Response

  1. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings was prosecuted and convicted in F

    Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings was prosecuted because of the death of a junior geologist, Alexander Wright, who died when a trial pit he was working in collapsed. The company was fined £385K and was given 10 years to pay. 

    Were they not the first company convicted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA)?

Author Profile Picture
Cath Everett

Freelance journalist and former editor of HRZone

Read more from Cath Everett