Two company directors have denied charges relating to the deaths of five men at a recycling plant.
Almamo Jammeh, Ousmane Diaby, Bangally Dukureh, Saibo Sillah and Mahamadou Jagana died at Shredmet’s premises in Birmingham on 7 July 2016.
The two directors, plus two recycling firms, have been charged with health and safety offences.
Wayne Hawkeswood and Graham Woodhouse appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday to deny charges against them.
ENSCO 10101, formerly Shredmet, and its predecessor Hawkeswood Metal Recycling are also being prosecuted.
The five men – four from the Gambia and one from Senegal – died when a wall collapsed at a recycling plant in Nechells, smothering them in hundreds of tonnes of metal ingots.
A sixth man suffered serious injuries.
A jury inquest into the deaths recorded verdicts of accidental death.
Mr Hawkeswood, 50, of Riverside Works in Nechells, pleaded not guilty to four breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, including two which allege an “offence was committed with your consent or connivance or was attributable to your neglect”.
Graham Woodhouse, 54, also of Riverside Works, denied four offences related to his duties as an employer on or about 7 July 2016.
The companies, both of the same address, indicated not guilty pleas to two charges each through their lawyers at the hearing.
A trial has been listed for 17 October 2022 and is expected to last for up to eight weeks.
