Hugh Robertson, TUC Senior Health and Safety Officer, said: 'We are pleased that the courts finally seem to be taking Health and Safety offences seriously. However it does illustrate why we also need an offence of Corporate Killing. A conviction under the health and safety at work act is still seen as an administrative breach, whatever the penalty. We believe that this case also reinforces the case for more stringent duties on directors with penalties for those that allow situations like this to arise.

'We hope that this conviction will be of some consolation to the families of those that died and believe that penalties of this order may make companies think again before putting profit before safety.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk