Boss jailed over worker death

Michael Shaw, admitted the "gross negligence" manslaughter of David Bail who was crushed to death after vital safety equipment was switched off on a stone cutting machine.

The 46-year-old, of Bridgnorth Road, was originally handed a two-year suspended sentence at Winchester Crown Court in July, but a judge at London's Criminal Appeal Court said yesterday this was "unduly lenient".

The 22-year-old victim died at a factory in Totton, Hampshire, back in 2003.

He suffered massive head injuries when he was caught by the machine and crushed against a pillar.

The single man from Romsley had worked for the company called Change of Style for seven months.

Sir Ivor Judge told the appeal court yesterday how Shaw was the "hands-on boss" of the factory which, in part, cut stone and marble for fireplaces and kitchen work tops.

A light beam safety device - which would have operated to prevent the accident when Mr Bail had gone to look at a problem on a cutter - had been rendered inoperable.

Sentencing Shaw, Sir Judge said: "This disaster has been with you for three years - serving a sentence will help to expurgate the undoubted sense of guilt you feel.

"A young man lost his life because of the gross negligence of his employer.

"We emphasise health and safety in this place of employment was literally a matter of life and death. Here, safety was ignored for business convenience, at the peril of death.

"The machine and the other two had, in fact, been dangerous and potentially lethal from the day they were first installed some years earlier."

He said Shaw did not personally disable the safety devices, but through his guilty plea, acknowledged safety procedures in his premises were his responsibility.

By Victoria Nash

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