Case studies: Jail terms
Relevance of these cases
I reference these cases in Chapter 12 of my book, because it illustrates that jail sentences in relation to health and safety offences are prompted by gross failures to ensure people’s safety and health, not by misjudgements about disproportion factors.
This will also be a useful page for collating future cases involving jail terms.
Case: Hawkeswood Metal Recycling and Ensco 10101 (2023)
In 2023 two company directors from different companies were sentenced to 9 months in prison after five men died at a recycling site when a wall fell on them.
Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Ltd occupied the site in Birmingham for at least 15 years collecting, processing and then selling on scrap metal. Shredmet Ltd (later renamed Ensco 10101) had been on the site for about eight years, originally just buying and selling scrap – it wasn’t involved in processing it. However, by May 2016, Shredmet claimed it was in the process of taking over the production side of the business.
On the 7 July 2016, several agency staff and one direct employee had been asked to clear metal filings (swarf) out of bay 4 to make way for new material. The workers arrived at the site before 8am and Shredmet director Graham Woodhouse told them what to do.
The direct employee would be operated a Bobcat, and the agency workers needed to sweep the swarf with brooms, and shovel it into the Bobcat bucket.
Bay 3 contained 263 tonnes of metal briquettes. A wal made from 30 concrete blocks, known as “V-blocks”, separated bay 3 and bay 4. The description fo the V-block is that they are the size of a domestic fridge-freezer and weigh the same as a large family car.
‘As the workers were working in bay 4, the 45-tonne wall with 263 tonnes of metal briquettes collapsed. Unfortunately, five of the men – Ousmane Kaba Diaby, Saibo Sumbundu Sillah, Bangally Tunkara Dukuray, Almamo Kinteh Jammeh and Mahamadou Jagana Jagana – were unable to move out of the way and died instantly. A sixth man was able to pin himself against the far right corner of wall, suffering quite significant leg injuries.
Following the incident, the defendants appointed structural engineers who carried out an assessment, the result being a reduction in wall heights and bays being clearly marked with maximum fill lines.
Penalties
Hawkeswood Metal Recycling (site) fined £1 million
Shredmet Ltd (work) fined £600k
Prosecution costs were £775,000 (presumably split between the two companies)
Directors Wayne Anthony Hawkeswood and Graham John Woodhouse were found guilty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 of sections 2(1) and 3(1) by reference to section 33. They received jail terms of 9 months each
More information
For images see the news article at IOSH Magazine
Case: Greenfeeds Ltd (2022)
Greenfeeds was a family firm, run by the Leivers family, Gillian & Ian. They produced bio-fuel and pig feed from recycled products and delivered the material using road haulage tankers.
It was a few days before Christmas in 2016. Nathan Walker and his family were looking forward to Christmas. Although he was only 19, his partner was expecting their first child within the next couple of weeks. Nathan was asked to clean a tanker containing about six tonnes of semi-liquid pig feed. The prosecution claim there was no written SSoW work, no suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
Inside the tanker, Nathan was overcome by carbon dioxide fumes and collapsed. A colleague, 35-year old Gavin Rawson tried to rescue him, but also overcome.
The son of the directors also tried to help – he quickly started to feel unwell, and had difficulty breathing, but was able to climb out.
The emergency services used a saw to cut holes in the side of the tanker and pulled Gavin and Nathan out. Despite attempts to resuscitate them, they died at the scene. A post-mortem concluded cause of death was drowning in animal feed.
Prosecution case
- Staff had previously raised concerns about the danger of entering slurry tankers in this way. No action had been taken.
- There were no adequate risk assessments. No planning. No management. No supervision. No monitoring.
- There was no one named as responsible for health and safety.
- Judge Peter Fraser told the court:
“There was no safe method of working; there was no training; there was no assessment of the risks; there were no warnings given to the yard staff; there was not even a basic record kept of when someone went into one to clean it. The method that had been adopted at Greenfeeds for years, and which the senior management knew about, was simply climb in, clean the tanker and take your chances.” (BBC website, 16 June, 2022)
Penalties
Ian Leivers, co-owner and director: Not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter (GNM), but guilty HSW s2(1), s37. 20 months jail, disqualified 10 years
Gillian Leivers, the company secretary: 2 counts of GNM, HSW s2(1) and s37. 13 years jail, disqualified 15 years
Stewart Brown, transport manager: Not guilty of GNM, but guilty under HSW s7a. 1 year suspended for 2 years
The company: guilty of 2 counts of corporate manslaughter. Fined £2 million. Dissolved in 2023.
More information
The director had a shorter prison sentence and has written a book claiming his wife, the company secretary who received a 13-year prison sentence, was framed. My comments are based on the reports of the case provided by the HSE at the time (no longer on their website), summarised in news articles at IOSH Magazine and on the BBC website, and the press release from Leicestershire Police.
Case: Decopak (2023)
It was Good Friday in 2017. Andrew Tibbott, aged 48, had been working for Deco-Pak, a wholesale supplier of aggregates to the gardening and landscaping trade, for less than 6-weeks. He was alone at the worksite, as a maintenance engineer. One of his tasks was to to clean a sensor on the machine. No one saw the accident, but when he didn’t come home from work that evening his family went to the worksite and found him badly injured, having been crushed by the robotic arm, which must have moved while he was doing his job.
Prosecution case
In 2015 the company had some new machinery installed to make it more efficient to bag aggregates. It was a powerful machine that used a robotic arm to move gravel, stone and other materials into bags for transportation. It had built in safety features, including safety fencing and a system which would automatically shut down the power if anyone stepped inside the production area. However, safety features can have a tiresome habit of causing processes to stop when someone needs to unblock something, or carry out maintenance. Within days of installation, the safety features were disabled. The safety fencing was unrestricted access to the machine for cleaning and maintenance, while it was still operating. A gate was installed around the machine, but without an adequate interlock mechanism. The light barriers designed to sense movement in the restricted area had been disabled.
The supplier of the machinery had warned senior management at the firm about the dangers of bypassing safety systems and the likely consequence of accidents and injury. Reports on the case state:
‘The company director had received a report two months before Mr Tibbot’s death highlighting the serious safety issues concerning the machinery.’
It is not clear who wrote the report, but the senior management could not claim they were not aware of the danger. It was foreseeable, and given they purchased the equipment with safety features, it was practicable to manage the hazards.
Penalties
Deco-Pak convicted of corporate manslaughter, fined £700,000
Deco-Pak’s owner Michael Hall convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and jailed for 5 years.
More information
For more details see the news release on the CPS website.