Mark Balysz secures acquittal of Director on Manslaughter and breach of s.37 HSWA charges
Mark Balysz, instructed by Mark Thompson and Alex Traynor of DWF, represented RS, the operations director of a garden aggregate bagging company. RS was prosecuted for gross negligence manslaughter and breach of s.37, after the Company’s maintenance engineer was killed by the robotic arm of a bagging machine. The physical guards, gate inter-locks and light barriers had been defeated on the machine. Prosecution case was that client had been personally and repeatedly warned and had failed to take any steps to rectify. It was argued on behalf of RS that he did not have real authority pursuant to R v Boal principles, notwithstanding appointment as director, and therefore did not have sufficient duty of care. After a two-month trial at Bradford Crown Court RS was found not guilty on both counts. Mark was acting alone without a leader or junior.
