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R (Health and Safety Executive) v Dalkia Utilities Services Limited
14 January 2011

Dalkia Utilities Services Limited was prosecuted by the HSE under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 following the death of an employee at the Berkshire Brewery. The employee was a skilled technician. He died following exposure to carbon dioxide while undertaking a routine procedure. The prosecution offered no further evidence at the conclusion of Keith's cross examination of its expert. During cross-examination the expert accepted, amongst other things, that death or injury were not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the routine procedure. On the direction of HHJ Parkes QC the jury returned verdicts of not guilty in respect of both Dalkia and the co-defendant. Both defendants recovered their costs from central funds.