Six figure fine for corporate manslaughter

• Six figure fine for corporate manslaughter

A company has been fined nearly £500,000 over the death of a maintenance worker who fell more than 40ft (12m) from a factory roof in Greater Manchester. Lion Steel Equipment Ltd admitted corporate manslaughter over the death of Steven Berry, 45, at its factory in Hyde on 29 May 2008. The firm was fined £480,000, to be paid over four years with £84,000 costs. It was only the second prosecution since the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act in 2008. Three directors of the company, Kevin Palliser, 59, Richard Vaughan Williams, 42, and Graham Coupe, 59, who were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, were found not guilty earlier in the case (Risks 563). Greater Manchester Police, which carried out a joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said Mr Berry fell through a fragile perspex sheet in a roof he was trying to fix and landed on a stone floor. The investigation found there had been no risk assessment and Lion Steel had never offered health and safety training to Mr Berry. His widow Hilary said: 'Lion Steel's complete and utter disregard for the laws that were there to keep my husband safe means that my daughters no longer have a father and I now face life without the person who was by my side for over 20 years.' Det Insp Dave Loughlin said: 'Throughout the investigation we found signs of considerable neglect and apathy with respect to health and safety.'

R -v- Lion Steel Equipment Ltd - Judiciary, full Lion Steel manslaughter judgment [pdf].

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