Deco-Pak former director jailed after employee dies
A FORMER company director has been jailed after a machine trapped and crushed to death a new employee.
Michael Hall, 66, of Hullen Edge Lane, Elland, who was running Deco-Pak at the time of the death, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and failing to discharge the employer’s general duty after a re-trial which began in March and ended in April.
Andrew Tibbot, who was aged 48 and had only been working for the Hipperholme-based company – which describes itself as a garden landscaping specialist and decorative aggregates supplier – as a maintenance engineer for just under six weeks, was found dead at the firm’s site with catastrophic crush injuries on Good Friday in 2017 (April 17).
Deco-Pak Limited was fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £90,000 in court costs.