Cotswold Rainwater Services charged with corporate manslaughter after Oxfordshire electrocution death
Published on 07/25/2026 at 00:07 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
A Witney-based guttering company has been charged with corporate manslaughter following the death of an engineer who was electrocuted while working in Oxfordshire nearly two years ago.
Cotswold Rainwater Services Ltd faces the charge alongside an alleged breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act after a joint investigation by Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the death of 34-year-old Andrew Claridge.
The incident occurred on November 14, 2024, in Longworth. Mr Claridge died from electrocution while working. The company has been summoned to appear at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court on August 11, 2026.
Wider enforcement picture
The charges come as the HSE concludes several other major investigations into workplace fatalities. In a separate case, Dragon Alfa Cement Ltd was recently ordered to pay a £1 million fine plus costs of £9,621. The penalty followed an August 2021 incident at a facility in Sharpness where an employee was crushed by machinery. Investigators discovered that perimeter fencing intended to block access to dangerous equipment was routinely removed at the site.
In Kent, South East Refurbishment Ltd was fined £90,000 after pleading guilty to safety breaches. A worker fell from a forklift bucket at an Ashford business park in March 2023, and the HSE determined that unsafe work at height had been practised over a prolonged period.
Ongoing investigations
Authorities are also managing new workplace incidents. On July 23, 2026, a fatal gas incident occurred at an industrial unit on Brunel Road in Bedford. The high-pressure release of oxygen from 12 cylinders resulted in the death of a man in his 30s and the hospitalisation of another individual. Bedfordshire Police and the HSE have launched a joint probe.
Separately, a judge recently denied a motion to quash a second-degree murder charge against the CEO of the Oxford Centre regarding a 2025 hyperbaric chamber fire that killed a five-year-old child. The centre's safety director has already entered a plea, while the CEO's appeal remains pending.
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