This week Northern Ireland company JMW Farms Limited became the second company to be convicted of Corporate Manslaughter in Great Britain and the Safety Health and Practitioner report they have received the largest ever health and safety fine in Northern Ireland.

On 15th November 2010 a JMW Farms employee, Robert Wilson, was tragically killed when he was struck by a metal bin which fell from the raised forks of a forklift truck. The joint investigation by the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland found that it was not possible to insert the lifting forks into the sleeves of the bin, as the forks were too large and incorrectly spaced causing the bin to fall.

JMW Farms pleaded guilty to the offence under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (“the Act”) and was fined £187,500 and ordered to pay £13,000 in costs. The total sum must be paid within six months.

Delivering his sentence, Belfast Recorder Judge Tom Burgess said “Yet again, the court is faced with an incident where common sense would have shown that a simple, reasonable and effective solution would have been available to prevent this tragedy… The very definition of the offence of corporate manslaughter is an acceptance of a gross breach of duty. That is a high and totally unacceptable breach in circumstances where the risks involved were high, with the more than foreseeable likelihood of serious injury, or death following if the proper steps were not taken.”

Whilst the £187,500 is the highest in Northern Ireland’s health and safety history it is significantly lower than the £500,000 level which is set by the Sentencing Council Guidelines (“SCG”) as a minimum fine for fatal accidents which should only be departed from in exceptional circumstances.

However, the SCG also state that “whilst a fine is intended to inflict painful punishment, it should be one which the defendant is capable of paying”. JMW Farms had a turnover of just over £1 million, therefore even though the fine is significantly below the SCG starting point, it is likely to ‘inflict painful punishment’ and cause JMW Farms significant financial problems.

This case is comparable to the first corporate manslaughter conviction of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Limited in 2011. Cotswold also received a fine well below the SCG threshold, £385,000 to be paid over 10 years, due to limited financial means. Whilst these fines will inevitably be very painful to the companies, the true impact of the Act is yet to be realised by many. However, this may soon change.

On 12th June 2012 the second prosecution under the Act in England is due to be heard at Manchester Crown Court, where Lion Steel Equipment Limited are charged with corporate manslaughter whilst three directors face charges of gross negligence manslaughter following an employee falling to his death through a glass roof. Unlike JMW Farms and Cotswold, it appears that Lion Steel have a healthier bank balance with recorded turnover of over £9 million in 2010. Should the alleged offences be made out and Lion Steel be convicted it is very likely that the fine imposed will be significantly more and the true financial impact of this legislation on companies may then be realised. Watch this space!

Contact: Joe Limb

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