The recruitment agency had been accused of rushing through the placement in order to gain a government paymentA recruitment agency has been fined £75,000 after placing an apprentice who was killed at work in a dangerous working environment.
Cameron Minshull had been dragged into a steel cutting machine after his overalls became caught in a “horrific” accident, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Lime People Training Solutions placed Cameron at Huntley Mount Engineering Limited without allegedly doing anything to ensure that the placement was suitable, as the prosecutor for the case said that the ‘work was a wholly unsuitable placement for an apprentice’ and that the agency had failed their contractual obligation to provide a ‘healthy and safe’ environment for teenage workers.
The teenager’s apprenticeship was funded by the government’s Skills Training Agency, from which the recruitment agency received a £4,500 government payment.
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The agency was fined £75,000 for putting Cameron in a dangerous work environment and ordered to pay £25,000 in court costs.
The Manchester court heard there was no safety regime at the engineering company, with youngsters left untrained and unsupervised while safety guards had been removed from machinery.
Judge David Stockdale QC, said when passing judgement: “These young men – inadequately trained, inexperienced, unqualified and virtually unsupervised – were effectively left to their own devices in a workshop containing fast running, unguarded machinery.”
“To adopt a well-worn but accurate phrase, Cameron Minshull’s horrific accident was an accident waiting to happen.”
Huntley Mount Engineering admitted corporate manslaughter and was fined £150,000, with the owner Zaffar Hussain admitting neglect under health and safety laws jailed for eight months and banned from being a company director for 10 years.
