Supermarket chain WM Morrisons has been fined £3.5 million after an epileptic employee died when he fell from the stairs during a seizure. Matthew Gunn, 27, suffered catastrophic head injuries at the store in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in September 2014.

He had been regularly using the staircase to access his locker on the first floor of the shop when he suffered a seizure. Mr Gunn was fatally injured, dying in hospital 12 days later having never regained consciousness. The court heard Mr Gunn died three-and-a-half months after his mother had warned managers of the risk to her son due to his frequent seizures.

Richard Atkins KC, prosecuting, told the court WM Morrisons knew of Mr Gunn’s ill-health and should have moved his locker to the ground floor and stopped him using the stairs.

He said:

“The defendant knew of the risk posed by the stairs to Matthew Gunn. Many in the management were aware of the frequency of the tonic-clonic seizures and the prosecution submits that by the time of the fatal failings on 25 September 2014, there was a highly likely high level of harm occurring.”

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.

The company admitted an offence of failing to comply between May 26 2015 and February 26 2020 with a request made by an HSE inspector for contact details of a person the inspector wanted to speak to.

Passing sentence, Judge Moira Macmillan said:

“Matthew was forced to use the stairs at least eight times a day for each of his breaks as he had to keep his cigarettes in his locker. The jury decided that using the stairs for the amount of times he did was a contributory factor to his death. The company failed to carry out a risk assessment. Morrisons fell short of the standards expected for somebody suffering from epilepsy. Morrisons, in failing to move Matthew’s locker downstairs, is indisputable. The company failed to treat him as an individual and make appropriate changes. I accept that the risks were specific to Matthew.”