Morrisons has been fined £3.5m after an employee with epilepsy died when he fell from the stairs during a seizure.
Matthew Gunn, 27, suffered catastrophic head injuries at the supermarket’s store in Gloucestershire. He had been using the staircase to access his locker on the first floor of the shop.
Gloucester crown court heard he died in September 2014, three-and-a-half months after his mother had told managers of the risk due to his frequent seizures. Gunn died in hospital 12 days after the fall, having never regained consciousness.
Morrisons had denied three health and safety charges but was convicted by the jury. It had admitted a fourth charge before the trial.
The jury convicted the supermarket giant of failure to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees; failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of employees; and failure to review the risks and assessments of employees.
Passing sentence, judge Moira Macmillan said: “The jury decided that using the stairs for the amount of times he did, was a contributory factor to his death...
Morrisons fell short of the standards expected for somebody suffering from epilepsy … The company failed to treat [Gunn] as an individual and make appropriate changes.”