Nitrogen knocks out employee inside machine

Date:

8 November 2010

Release No:

WM249/10

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Black Country recycling firm after nitrogen gas, used to stop explosions, made a worker pass out.

Halesowen Magistrates Court heard that it was usual for workers at Overton Recycling to climb into the chute of a fridge recycling machine at the company's site in Rufford Street, Lye.

On 1 June 2009, Stephen Barnes, 47, from Birmingham, was working on the machine used to recycle fridges. A chute fed the fridges inside the machine to be broken up, but as they have the potential to explode, the machine contained nitrogen gas to help reduce the risk of a blast.

Sometimes the fridges would twist and get stuck and it was usual for workers to climb in to clear the blockages. When Mr Barnes did this on the day of the incident, the nitrogen inside the chute made him pass out so he had to be rescued by a colleague.

He was taken to hospital and was off work for three days and although he made a full physical recovery, he has since suffered from a lack of sleep, flashbacks and mood swings that are only now subsiding.

A HSE inspection found the presence of the nitrogen in the chute had not been assessed before people got inside to clear blockages. The company had also failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment that would have identified the risks of climbing into a confined space. The company should also have had a system in place for clearing blockages that did not require entry in to the chute.

HSE inspector Angela Gallagher said:

"Companies need to ensure all machinery and processes are properly assessed. Had this been done, the nitrogen would have been identified as a hazard and the chute recognised as a confined space with the right safety systems installed.

"All too often in cases like this we see multiple fatalities as people try to rescue a colleague from a confined space without taking precautions themselves. It is fortunate that no one was more seriously harmed on this occasion."

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and was fined £13,000 and ordered to pay £6,107 costs.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.
2. Regulation 3(1) of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 states: "Every employer shall... ensure compliance with the provisions of these Regulations in respect of any work carried out by his employees; and... ensure compliance, so far as is reasonably practicable, with the provisions of these Regulations in respect of any work carried out by persons other than his employees insofar as the provisions relate to matters which are within his control."
3. Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: "Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of... the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and... the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking"
4. Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/confinedspace/ for more information about working in confined spaces.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR (West Midlands)