Chemical burns prompt HSE prosecution of Leicestershire firm

Date:

4 November 2009

Release No:

HSE/EM/09

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned companies of their duty to protect employees working with chemicals after two workers were burnt at a Leicestershire adhesives factory.

Anglo Adhesives and Services Ltd, of Dalby Road, Melton Mowbray today pleaded guilty at Melton Magistrates' Court to breaching Regulations 5 (1) and 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002.

The company also admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to ensure people not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,500

The court was told that on 2 September 2008, agency workers Wayne Saddington and William Christie Burton Gillespie were working at the Leicestershire factory and were asked to mix up a batch of adhesives. They were given instructions on a job card which told them to clean out a plastic barrel, add two solvents then use an electric mixer in a solid resin to mix them together.

However, as they began mixing, the flammable vapour above the liquid ignited, sending a flame shooting upwards. It set fire to Mr Saddington's hi-visibility tabard and singed the hair and burnt the faces of both men.

HSE Inspector Will Pascoe said:

"Mr Saddington and Mr Gillespie had only been working at the company for a matter of weeks. They were not experienced in working with flammable liquids and were not aware of the danger they were putting themselves in.

"The company should have given them proper instructions, there should have been a risk assessment and a safe system of working. They should have been told to use a metallic drum which should have been earthed and they should have used a mixer that was suitable for use in an explosive atmosphere.

"Mr Saddington and Mr Gillespie were incredibly lucky not to have suffered more severe injuries. I hope this case serves as a warning to other companies not to put the lives of their workers in danger.

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 5 (1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 states: "Where a dangerous substance is or is liable to be present at the workplace, the employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to his employees which arise from that substance."
2. Regulation 6 (1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 states: "Every employer shall ensure that risk from dangerous substances is either eliminated or reduced so far as is reasonably practicable"
3. 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."

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