Deco-Pak Limited Convicted of Corporate Manslaughter

Allan Compton QC and Jacqueline Carey prosecuted a national supplier of landscaping products at Bradford Crown Court.

Following a 10 week trial the company was convicted of corporate manslaughter contrary to s1 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The convictions arose from the death of an employee crushed by a robotic arm, used as part of an automatic bagging and production line at their factory in Hipperholme, Halifax.  The prosecution proved that, over the course of 2 years, Deco-Pak Limited caused safety systems surrounding a robotic cell to be disabled, enabling employees to regularly access a live cell.

Since the Act came into force on 6th April 2008 there have been fewer than 30 convictions for corporate manslaughter. Between 2018 and 2021 such convictions only resulted from guilty pleas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-60002333

https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/insights/blogs/criminal-law-blog/review-of-recent-corporate-manslaughter-cases-deco-pak-bosley-mill-aster-healthcare