Hazmat exposure lands Daventry chemical firm in bother

Drager PSS 3000
SCBA with Gauge

Daventry chemical manufacturing firm Endeavour Speciality Chemicals has been fined after its employees were exposed to a number of hazardous materials (hazmat).

Northampton Magistrates' Court recently heard that employees at the site were asked to manually pour substances into containers without the proper ventilation and breathing apparatus.

Ventilation is important when dealing with toxic and hazardous substances.  Frontline Safety features a range of breathing apparatus on their website.  This includes face masks, filters, escape sets and SCBA - click on the links for more information on these product ranges.

As a result, one 46-year-old female member of staff was diagnosed with occupational asthma and rhinitis after being exposed to a range of toxic substances known to the firm to be hazardous.

While the employee can no longer work with chemicals, she has since been found another position within the company.

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 6(1) an 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.

As a result, the Low March Industrial Estate-based manufacturer was fined £15,000 and told to pay costs of £5,000.

Health and Safety Executive inspector James Wright said that Endeavour should have assessed the risks associated with the chemicals and provided adequate hazmat protection to its staff.

Its failure led to the employee suffering years of ill health and has changed the path of her career.

"The measures that were required to have made this work safe were inexpensive and not difficult to implement. These could have included effective fume cupboards suitable for the work, local exhaust ventilation, good hygiene practices, exposure monitoring and suitable PPE," Mr Wright explained.

"Companies should ensure they have suitable arrangements in place to manage the risks from the handling of hazardous substances."

In other news, two asbestos consultants have been charged after they failed to notice large quantities of fibers at a site in Trafford.

Posted by Dawn Mitchell