.gif)
Alex Wright was 27 years old when he died on 5 September 2008. The Imperial College graduate was a geologist for Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings and was investigating soil conditions in a deep trench on a development plot in Stroud when it collapsed and killed him.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court that Mr Wright was left working alone in the 3.5m-deep trench to 'finish-up' when the company director left for the day. The two people who owned the development plot decided to stay at the site as they knew Mr Wright was working alone in the trench. About 15 minutes later they heard a muffled noise and then a shout for help.
While one of the plot-owners called the emergency services, the other one ran to the trench where he saw that a surge of soil had fallen in and buried Mr Wright up to his head. He climbed into the trench and removed some of the soil to enable Mr Wright to breathe. At that point, more earth fell so quickly into the pit that it covered Mr Wright completely and, despite the plot owners best efforts, Mr Wright died of traumatic asphyxiation.
It took rescue workers two days to excavate the body.
The prosecution's case was that Mr Wright was working in a dangerous trench because Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings' systems had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect him from working in that way. In convicting the company, the jury found that their system of work in digging trial pits was wholly and unnecessarily dangerous. The company ignored well-recognised industry guidance that prohibited entry into excavations more than 1.2m deep, requiring junior employees to enter into and work in unsupported trial pits, typically from 2m to 3.5m deep. Mr Wright was working in just such a pit when he died.
There was no person in the dock at Winchester Crown Court during the three-week trial as it is the company, rather than an individual, which is charged with corporate manslaughter.
A charge of gross negligence manslaughter against Peter Eaton, director of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, was dropped in October because of concerns about his poor health.
Alex Wright graduated in 2002 from Imperial College London, having taken a degree in geology. He worked for Norwest Holst from October 2003 to April 2005, where he was trained in a number of aspects of soil investigation and received relevant health and safety training connected to that work. He joined Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings in January 2006 and was one of just eight employees.
Kate Leonard, reviewing lawyer from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Special Crime Division, said: "Alex Wright was a young man, full of promise. His death is a tragedy for all those who loved him and would never have happened if Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings had properly protected him.
"I hope that this conviction offers his family some sense of justice. I send them my sincere condolences once again."
Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died. The sentence for corporate manslaughter is an unlimited fine which is to be determined by a judge.
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings will be sentenced on Thursday 17 February 2011.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
