Big firms still getting away with manslaughter, says TUC
April 10th 2006

The TUC last month welcomed the jailing of Mark Connolly, boss of the subcontracting company responsible for the deaths of four railway workers at Tebay, Cumbria in 2004 – but urged government to hold directors of big companies to account.

Connolly was sentenced to nine years over the killings which occurred when a three tonne flatbed laden with tonnes of scrap rail ran away from a work site, travelled three miles down the track, and smashed into the oblivious maintenance workers. At last month’s hearing the prosecution told how Connolly had tampered with the breaks – actually disconnecting them – because the hydraulics were so poorly maintained that they would not work in conjunction with the crane being used to load them. Instead the hydraulic cables were filled with ball bearings to make them appear in order and pass safety tests. Colin Buckley, Darren Burgess, Gary Tindall and Chris Waters died as a result.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said the verdict was scant consolation for the families of the dead men, but stressed it would “send a warning to other employers not to take major safety risks just to save a few pounds”.

“Although a welcome decision, the success in this case must be contrasted with the failure to successfully prosecute the directors of large companies such as Transco, Balfour Beatty and various rail companies following other recent deaths,” he said. Balfour Beatty was fined £10m in October last year for sustained industrial negligence resulting in the Hatfield train crash. Transco was fined £15m in August 2005 for serious safety failings that caused the deaths of a family of four. The company was condemned by the judge for its lack of remorse and attempts to evade blame.

Neither cases resulted in a company director being jailed.

“This illustrates the urgent need for both a new offence of corporate killing and new duties on individual directors,” said Barber. “The government must introduce both as soon as possible.”

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