A company fined £600,000 over the death of a Yorkshire lorry driver who was buried alive under a mound of animal feed has failed to win a cut in their court ordered penalty.
Malcolm Harrison, 64, from Keighley, died after a pile of soya meal collapsed and engulfed him while his lorry was being loaded at Seaforth docks.
Farm suppliers, Cargill Plc, was handed the fine at Liverpool Crown Court in April last year after admitting a breach of health and safety rules.
The company today challenged the amount of the fine at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, with its lawyers arguing it was ‘too high’.
But the appeal was thrown out by top judges, who said the financial penalty was justified, given the ‘serious breach of duty’ which led to Mr Harrison’s tragic death.
The court heard Mr Harrison, a highly experienced HGV driver, was loading his lorry at the docks on 6 September 2012 when disaster struck.
As he was at the rear of his truck, a huge pile of soya meal collapsed and buried him.
Despite the frantic efforts of Cargill employees – who managed to pull him free – and the emergency services, the father-of-four didn’t regain consciousness and later died in hospital.
In a statement, his widow, Claudine Harrison, described her ‘happy life’ with her husband and how they had been looking forward to and planning their retirement together.
Cargill, which the court heard has an annual turnover of £1bn, admitted breaching health and safety regulations.
The court heard that, while the company had trained its own staff to prevent ‘engulfment’ it had not put proper procedures in place to safeguard non-employees.
Challenging the fine, lawyers for Cargill argued that the crown court judge set the amount too high and didn’t take enough account of sentencing guidelines.
But, dismissing the appeal, Mrs Justice Patterson said the breach had created a high risk of harm.
She also said a hefty fine was necessary to ‘bring home to the company’s shareholders’ the serious nature of the offence.
Sitting with Lord Justice McCombe and Judge Paul Batty QC, she added: “Here the breach of duty was serious and was aggravated by the tragic death of Mr Harrison.
“It was also admitted by a company with more than adequate resources to pay a substantial penalty.
“In our judgment, the approach of the crown court judge was unimpeachable.”
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/