Take it from someone who divorced an accountant, "corporate citizenship", the existence of a business as a legal entity, is at the very heart of all our present problems, it allows those at the reins to pretty much do whatever they want, and they have, and we're all paying the price now!
My ex' was as rich as Croesus, and the kids and I lived on the pension, all her "assets" were corporately owned, and untouchable, plus there's NO help for a man suing a woman for maintenance, lol, god forbid!

John,

surely the person who removed the safety guard holds primary responsibility. If he/she was told to remove the guard by a supervisor then responsibility also lies with that person.

Why would the director of the company be responsible? They don't have anything to do with the day to day running of plant and machinery.

In my mine safety is everyones responsibility. You either don't use equipment that has had safety guards removed, or you do a risk assessment (in which case responsibility is taken by those involved).

Obviously the worker is entitled to compensation from the company, but wanting to hold a director personally responsible seems excessive.

Operating on a pyramid system as a corp' does, the top dog earns the most and should have the biggest responsibility, why else would they demand that much!
A corporation is established only for tax purposes.