Amicus is demanding urgent changes to the Corporate Manslaughter Bill after a company was fined just £200 following the death of a worker.
The company – JR Crompton Ltd – went into administration six months before the prosecution over the death of Richard Thomas, known as Dean. The Crown Court judge said that the fine had to be set so low because of the company’s debts – had it been solvent, he said he would have imposed a fine of £250,000.
Amicus is calling for a change in the penalties contained in the Bill, saying that the imprisonment of directors should be the only fitting outcome when health and safety failings cause death or serious maiming, as companies in administration are only facing token fines.
Mr Thomas was crushed by a reeling machine at the company’s paper mill in Lydney, Gloucestershire, on May 3, 2003. The 42-year-old father of two, who had worked at the mill since 1984, was killed when he entered the machine to prepare it for the next job. An untrained co-worker pressed the wrong button, causing a hydraulic table to close on him.
An investigation by Gloucestershire police and HSE uncovered fundamental health and safety failings by the company including failure to carry out a sufficient assessment of the risks of using machinery and failure to review their assessments.
The HSE concluded that this meant they failed to spot a dangerous working practice that occurred up to 100 times a day.
HSE inspectors also found home-made tools which workers used to reset the machine when they were inside it – a practice done with the full knowledge of management.
JR Crompton owned three paper mills: one in Manchester, one in Lydney and one in Devon. They manufactured speciality paper such as that used to make tea bags. They employed over 250 people at the Lydney site.
Amicus says that although the company has since been bought out, a senior director of JR Crompton, who worked at the mill at the time of the accident, has been retained by the new owner Gladfelter.
Tony Burke, Amicus’ assistant general secretary, who addressed the TUC Conference on the issue, said: “This case demonstrates the inadequacy of the law. A £200 fine for the loss of a life is an insult to Mr Thomas’ family and an encouragement to other negligent employers who cut corners on health and safety.
“We want to see individual directors held personally liable through prison sentences for failures that result in the death or maiming of their workers.”
Amicus’ general secretary, Derek Simpson, added: “UK workers desperately need the protection of a change in the law that will make senior directors personally accountable for their actions.”
