Craig Ferguson

Criminal Regulatory

Criminal Regulatory & Inquests

Craig is a leader of the 2 Hare Court Criminal Regulatory Team and he regularly represents corporate bodies, their officers and other individuals before the criminal courts in relation to the full range of criminal offences arising out of fatal and non-fatal accidents. He is instructed to act on behalf of companies large and small from a wide variety of industry sectors in relation to proceedings following fatalities at work, including retail, construction, energy, steel fabrication, printing, security, mobile telecommunications, transport, healthcare and hydraulic lifting.

He is frequently instructed to represent interested persons in relation to the inquests associated with these cases.

Recent cases include representing:

• A national supermarket company in relation to prosecution and appeal against conviction for offences relating to the death of an employee who died following an accident believed to have resulted from an epileptic seizure.
• A holiday company in relation to the inquest into the tragic death of a barrister who perished in a fire at a holiday camp.
• A company that supplies the 999 helicopter Search and Rescue Service to HM Coastguard in relation to an inquest into a death during landing.
• A student accommodation provider in relation to the inquest into the death of a student from alcohol intoxication.
• A garage in relation to the death of an employee who died when a vehicle lift collapsed.
• The director of a brick restoration company prosecuted following the death of an employee from inhaling dichloromethane fumes.
• A transport company prosecuted following an accident when its driver reversed a HGV, crushing a pedestrian against a FLT.
• A steel casting company prosecuted following an incident in which an employee was showered in molten steel.
• A playground designer, following the death of a young child who was crushed by a falling rotten tree trunk, which formed part of a natural play area in a London park.
• A Community Interest Company that ran the school health service contract for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in relation to a prosecution following the death of a child at school.
• Several construction and manufacturing companies following accidents resulting in fatal and/or catastrophic injuries.
• A sprinkler installation company, prosecuted pursuant to section 2 HSWA following a fall from height.
• A 72-year-old mechanic and his company following the collapse of a bus which killed the trainee who was repairing it.
• A private security company delivering the contract to protect the EUPOL Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan, into the death of a close protection officer who died together with other non-UK nationals when the Taliban launched a suicide bomb attack against the mission.
• A printing company facing allegations pursuant to sections 2 and 3 of HSWA following a fatal accident resulting from a fall from a rooftop.
• A care home in the inquest into the death of an elderly resident who was one of many residents suspected of being victims of neglect or abuse.
• A construction company and one of its directors, accused of corporate manslaughter and offences pursuant to section 3 and 37 of HSWA following a double fatality in which two men fell through a site hoarding into an open light well to their death.
• A highways maintenance company contracted by a County Council to maintain its highways, following a double fatality whereby two vehicles crashed on a stretch of road where water had pooled and frozen.
• A textiles manufacturing company that supplies fillings for mattresses, following the death of an employee who was crushed in a textile compression and packing machine.
• A construction company that faced alternative counts under section 2 and 3 of HSWA following the collapse of a 12 metre lighting column during installation, which caused significant head injuries to a labourer.
• An insulation manufacturer in relation to a series of alleged contraventions of the Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations arising from an inspection of its factory premises where it manufactured home insulation from wool and hemp.
• A building maintenance services company in relation to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations which came to light when a roofing contractor fell from the unprotected roof of a two storey building, sustaining serious injuries.
• A logistics company in relation to a section 2 HSWA charge arising from an accident at its logistics unit when a forklift truck dropped its load on a delivery driver, crushing his skull and causing life threatening injuries.
• A chemical producer in relation to a prosecution following a serious accident whereby a subcontractor’s employee sustained burn injuries resulting from an electrical flashover on a top tier COMAH site.
• A steel fabricator in relation to both inquest and prosecution following the death of a delivery driver who was crushed during the unloading of steel from his trailer.
• A mobile phone producer in relation to an inquest in which it was initially suspected that a fire, which caused the death of five members of a family was caused by their charger.
• An oil company in the Inquests into the deaths caused by Al Qaeda terrorists during a brutal attack which resulted in the loss of forty innocent people at a gas installation in Algeria.
• Hillsborough Inquests – acted as independent counsel to the individual officers of the FA who were called to give evidence.