Lee Hughes, instructed by Radha Vaithianathar of the Health and Safety Executive, successfully prosecuted a business owner following the tragic death of an employee in a garage in Liverpool in July 2020.
The defendant ran a garage business that, amongst other things, broke down vehicles for sale of parts. At the time of the incident the defendant employed three members of staff. The defendant and the three employees were working on a flatbed tipper truck when it was unexpectedly lowered onto one of his employees who died from his injuries later that day.
Following investigation by the HSE it was found that the business had no health and safety system in place, there were no documented safe systems of work, there was no training and no proper supervision.
In Liverpool Crown Court it was determined that the offence was one of high culpability and the case fell into harm category 1 on the sentencing guidelines.
The sentencing judge opted not to suspend the sentence of 10 months’ imprisonment.
https://press.hse.gov.uk/2023/08/04/sole-trader-jailed-after-man-crushed-under-van-at-bootle-garage/
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/he-went-work-never-came-27450930