UK Coal fined over miner deaths at Daw Mill and Welbeck

[dutchman]

UK Coal has been ordered to pay £1.2m after four miners died following safety breaches at two of its collieries.



Anthony Garrigan, 42, Paul Hunt, 45, and Trevor Steeples, 46, died in accidents at Daw Mill colliery, near Coventry, in 2006 and 2007.

Paul Milner, 44, died after an accident at the now-closed Welbeck Colliery in Nottinghamshire, in 2007.

The firm admitted offences under health and safety laws during an earlier hearing at Sheffield Crown Court.

UK Coal was fined £112,500 in relation to each incident and ordered to pay a further £187,500 in costs in each case.

Mr Justice MacDuff told Sheffield Crown Court he would not impose a penalty so high it would cripple the struggling firm.

'Dangerous occupation'

He urged the families of the dead men to focus on the total combined financial penalty.

The Doncaster-based company, which employs about 2,700 people, reported losses of £124.6m in 2010, following losses of £129.1m in 2009 and £15.6m in 2008.

The judge said: "These were, of course, dreadful accidents. They were preventable accidents.

"However, unlike most criminal acts, there was no intention to kill or injure.

"But the law rightly demands a high duty of care by employers for the safety of their employees and other workers.

"Mining is and will remain a dangerous occupation. These accidents all occurred in the depths of the Earth."

He said the firm was "trading on the edge of viability" and added: "It would be in no-one's interest if the company ceased to trade or if it had to reduce further the scope of its operations."