Morrisons supermarket has been fined £3.5 million following a successful prosecution by Tewkesbury Borough Council for failing to ensure the health and safety of an epileptic employee who died after falling from a shop stairway.
On 25 September 2014, Matthew Gunn, 27, was using the stairs in the supermarket’s Tewkesbury store when he is believed to have had a seizure. The resultant fall caused severe head injuries and he sadly died in hospital on 7 October 2014.
Morrisons – which was aware of Mr Gunn’s epileptic condition – was deemed to have missed opportunities to ensure his safety. It was charged with three health and safety violations which it denied:
-
Failure to ensure the health and safety of an employee who had epilepsy
-
Failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the employee who had epilepsy
-
Failure to review risks to which an employee with epilepsy might be exposed
