Jail for businessman after apprentice dies in industrial accident (17 July 2015)

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution has resulted in a businessman being jailed for eight months, following the death of an apprentice at his factory.

Cameron Minshull, 16, from Bury in Greater Manchester, was on a government-funded apprenticeship at Huntley Mount Engineering Ltd in Bury – run by businessman Zaffar Hussain and his son Akbar Hussain, who acted as a supervisor at the factory.

Cameron was earning £3 an hour as an apprentice and had been placed at the firm by the Lime Tree Training Solutions agency, which received £4,500 in payment from the government for placing the youngster.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Cameron had only worked at the factory for a month before he was killed on 8 January, 2013.

He had been “proud of himself” for getting a job, the court was told.

The teenager died after he was dragged into an industrial steel cutting lathe, when his overalls became trapped in the machinery.

He suffered catastrophic injuries to his upper body, face, neck and head.

Cameron’s mother was told of the incident by police, when she arrived to collect him from work. Her son died in hospital hours after the accident.

An investigation by the HSE found there was no safety regime at the factory – and apprentices were untrained and unsupervised.

HSE inspectors also discovered that safety guards had been taken off all the machines.

At Manchester Crown Court, Huntley Mount Engineering Ltd admitted corporate manslaughter and was fined £150,000.

Zaffar Hussain, 59, admitted breaching health and safety laws and was jailed for eight months. He was also banned from being a company director for ten years.

Akbar Hussain, 35, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety legislation and received a four-month jail term suspended for a year. He was also fined £3,000.

Both men and the company were each ordered to pay £15,000 in court costs.

Lime Tree Training Solutions recruitment agency was also fined £75,000 for placing Cameron in a dangerous work environment, with £25,000 in court costs.

Passing sentence Judge David Stockdale QC, said:

“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.”

After the hearing, Cameron's mother, Joanne Hill, called for the government to make sure training agencies for apprentices were adequately vetted.

"We were proud of Cameron going to work – and he was proud of himself, too,” Ms Hill said.

“He should never have died for doing the right thing – for going to work to earn a living and to be trained to become an engineer.

“Cameron's death is a tragedy for us. But it wasn't a tragic accident – it was due to terrible negligence and appalling lack of health and safety.

“We want the government to make sure no other young person is ever at risk of being killed or hurt on a government-approved apprenticeship, training or work experience.”

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