HSE WM/425/08 12 December 2008

HSE warns of invisible dangers after potentially lethal gas is released

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning companies to conduct suitable risk assessments and provide safe systems of work, after toxic carbon dioxide (CO2) was released into a basement sub station where it had little likelihood of escape.

Denso Manufacturing Midlands Ltd, of Minworth, Sutton Coldfield, was fined a total of £28,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,278 by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday 12th December 2008, after pleading guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The court heard that Denso Manufacturing Midlands Ltd was decommissioning the fire suppression system in the basement substation of its old works in Shaftmoor Lane, Hall Green, Birmingham. As part of preparing the site for clearance, on 31st October, 2007, two employees of the company released carbon dioxide from 11 large cylinders into the small basement room, unaware that it was heavier than air and would not be able to escape.

Completely unaware that the gas had been released, a contract electrician re-entered the substation but decided to leave immediately because he noticed an unpleasant taste to the air. Once outside, he felt weak, was taken to hospital and treated for gas inhalation.

The court also heard that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air was well above the level liable to cause lack of consciousness. Had the contract electrician lapsed into unconsciousness it is unlikely that he would have been found for some considerable time and this would have made the chances of him being revived increasingly unlikely.

HSE’s investigation revealed that no risk assessment had been carried out by the company to identify the risks arising from the move to Minworth and decommissioning of the Shaftmoor Lane factory.

HSE inspector Ed Fryer said:

"Quite clearly the lack of any risk assessment whatsoever enabled a very dangerous situation to develop. Management arrangements for the health and safety of employees and non-employees were grossly inadequate. It would be too frightening to speculate what the consequences might have been, not only for the two employees or the contract electrician but for anybody who unwittingly entered that basement after the gas had been released."

Notes to editors:

1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: ""It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
2. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety”.
3. Regulation 3(1) (a)  of the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations 1999 places onus on the employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of employees whilst they are at work – in this case -in relation to the management of transport on the site.
4. The maximum penalty, in a lower court, for breaching each of these sections is a fine not exceeding £20,000.
5. Information about construction safety can be found at the HSE website at:  http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm

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