A company director has denied responsibility for the deaths of four employees in a mill explosion.
At Stockport Magistrates’ Court, George Boden, 64, denied four counts of manslaughter by gross negligence over the blast in Bosley, Cheshire, the BBC News reports.
The four-storey Bosley Mill, near Macclesfield – where Smart Cat wood pellet litter and other own-label animal litter and bedding products were made – was completely destroyed.
Derek Moore, Dorothy Bailey, Jason Shingler and William (Derek) Barks died at Wood Flour Mills in July 2015.
Managers Peter Shingler, 56, and Phil Smith, 58, denied breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974.
The four-storey building was destroyed in the blast and firefighters did not leave the site of the explosion for more than a month.
As well as the employees who died at the site, a number were injured as the mill was reduced to rubble.
All three men have been bailed to appear at Chester Crown Court on January 3, 2020.
