Exposure to gas vapour: £160,000 fine
Health and Safety Executive v Air Liquide (UK) Ltd (2018) Stoke Combined Court, July 6
Statutory reference: s.2 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974 (HSWA)
Air Liquide (UK) Ltd, a specialty gas company, has been fined after a worker was overcome by vapour.
The facts
In February 2015 four members of the company’s Emergency Response Team were disposing of redundant gas bottles at the company’s site. The work involved two workers cutting the bottles open inside a box, using a hacksaw operated from the outside.
One worker, wearing protective equipment, was carrying a cut-open bottle when 50 ml of highly hazardous liquid leaked from it.
Vapour from the spillage drifted downwind and affected two unprotected workers. One of the workers collapsed.
The work system was inadequate. The Team had not been adequately informed or supervised, nor was the risk of explosion adequately controlled.
The decision
The company was fined £160,000 plus £22,000 costs under s.2 of HSWA.