The trial of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, the first company charged under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, has been adjourned until October 2010, because its director Peter Eaton requires urgent medical treatment.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced in April 2009 that the firm would be the first to face a corporate manslaughter charge, following the death of an employee in September 2008. Junior geologist Alexander Wright died when the sides of a trench - excavated as part of a site survey - collapsed and crushed him as he collected soil samples near Stroud in Gloucestershire.
Cotswold Geotechnical is also accused of breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, for failing to ensure the safety of its employees. Mr Eaton faces charges of gross negligence manslaughter as well as a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which states that where an offence by a company is committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, the director will also be guilty of that offence.
A pre-trial hearing will now take place in July 2010.
