Company guilty of corporate manslaughter after workers found dead in toxic pig feed tank

dailystar.co.uk:

corporate manslaughter after two employees were found dead inside a pig feed tanker. The two men, Gavin Rawson, 35, and his colleague, dad-to-be Nathan Walker, 19, were both found dead inside the toxic pig feed tanker which had been full of toxic fumes.Rawson and Walker were found face down in the liquid inside the tank after they had been overwhelmed by the fumes inside and subsequently collapsed.

Food waste recycling company Greenfeeds Ltd were found guilty of manslaughter in court after the two men were found dead in the semi-liquid pig feed.

The lengthy six-week trial found that Greenfeeds Ltd firm director Ian Leivers, 59, was guilty of breaching health and safety rules, while wife Gillian, 60, was convicted of two counts of gross negligence manslaugher.Gillian was also convicted of health and safety breaches.Employee Stewart Brown, 69, was found guilty of health and safety breaches but cleared of two counts of gross negligence manslaughter.The court heard that Mr Rawson and Mr Walker died after drowning inside of the tanker, with Walker having entered to clean it out with a power hose, and subsequently shouting for Mr Rawson's help after he experienced difficulties.The pair were overwhelmed by the fumes when trying to leave the tank, which they had been instructed to clean out by Leivers and Brown despite no risk assessment being made.A post-mortem concluded they had died after drowning in the animal feed, while police found staff had previously expressed concerns over the danger of cleaning the tankers without breathing apparatus.An investigation was carried out, with Detective Constable Kirsty Iqbal of Leicestershire Police saying the system of cleaning out the tankers was "so fundamentally dangerous that fatal.