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Haulier guilty of Inanslaughter
Page 12
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by John Davies • Jacksons Transport of Ossett and its former managing director Alan Jackson have been convicted of manslaughter following the death of one of their workers.
In the first corporate manslaughter charges to be brought against a haulier, the jury at Bradford Crown Court took just over three hours to find that 21-yearold James Hodgson was unlawfully killed.
Hodgson died in May 1994 after being sprayed in the face with a toxic chemical while cleaning out a tanker at the firm's depot.
During the 1I-day hearing it was claimed that Jackson and his firm had deliberately disregarded their obligations to ensure the safety of employees. Robert Smith, QC, prosecuting, said Hodgson had been wearing a boiler suit and baseball cap instead of the appropriate protective clothing. There was no-one on the premises who could give first aid and no facilities or medication to treat an employee exposed to the chemical parachloroortho-cresol (PCOC).
Jackson claimed Hodgson had been given verbal and written warnings about not wearing the proper protective clothing. He said he relied on the transport emergency card relating to PCOC to give him information about the chemical and it had not occurred to him that somebody could die if they were splashed with it.
Jackson, of Thornhill Road, Middleton, Wakefield, was also convicted of one offence under Health and Safety regulations and admitted a similar offence relating to another incident in February 1994.
He will be sentenced next month.
Sentence on the firm was adjourned to the same date. It also pleaded guilty to two breaches of Health and Safety regulations in May 1994 and one in February that year.