Jailed brothers back at firm after death at work cover-up
TWO brothers who tried to cover up health and safety failings which led to the death of a young dad still have a ‘prominent’ role in the same business, a public inquiry heard.
James Brown and Christopher Brown were both jailed for 20 months for perverting the course of justice following the death of Benjamin Edge, 25, from Greenmount, Bury, who died in an accident at Fletcher Bank Quarry in Ramsbottom in December 2014.
Mr Edge fell 12ft from a roof, where he had been working with no safety equipment in wet and windy conditions.
After Mr Edge was rushed to hospital his employers, SR and RJ Brown, tried to conceal ‘flagrant’ health and safety failings, Manchester Crown Court heard at the sentencing hearing.
SR and RJ Brown, the company which they were both directors of, was also fined £300,000 after pleading guilty to corporate manslaughter.
Now a public inquiry has found that the brothers, who have been released from prison, are still playing a ‘prominent’ role in the business as employees.
They resigned their directorships only after being sent to jail, and are still being paid the same as they were when they served as directors.
At the public inquiry, chaired by Simon Evans, traffic commissioner for the north west of England, the transport licence of SR and RJ Brown was revoked. This means the company will not be able to run commercial vehicles after January 31 next year.
His report states: “I am not satisfied taking into account the history of this operator, that I can be assured that the sort of system and process failures that led to the death of Benjamin Edge will not be repeated in the future in the context of transport, particularly with the Brown brothers playing such a prominent role in it.”
The inquiry, which was attended by Mr Edge’s parents, was told that the brothers’ parents, Jane Brown and Stephen Robert Brown, are now the firm’s sole directors. They said they had no knowledge of the decision to take on the work which led to Mr Edge’s death, or of the cover-up.
In his report, Mr Evans said that right-thinking people would find the former directors’ continuing presence at the family business wholly unacceptable.