Bodycote fined £700k over toxic gas fatalities

London - Bodycote HIP Ltd of Macclesfield, Cheshire, was fined £533,000 and ordered to pay costs of £200,000, as a result of a toxic gas release, which killed two employees at its manufacturing plant in College Road, Hereford. The company had pleaded guilty in the case brought by HSE before Worcester Crown Court.

On 14 June, 2004, the company's works manager and maintenance engineer were found collapsed on the stairs leading to a concrete-lined pit into which argon gas had leaked from a large pressure vessel. The pit's oxygen alarm system was switched off and the ventilation system was not running.

The risks from confined spaces and asphyxiation due to the presence of argon were well known to the company, which had experience of a similar double fatality at a Bodycote Group site in California, just three years earlier.

HSE inspector Luke Messenger said: "Despite this warning, the company had failed to undertake a proper risk assessment for entry into the confined space. Although they had implemented a safe system of work and permit to work procedure, they had not properly trained employees in their use, or ensured that these systems and procedures were being followed through their auditing procedure."

On the day of the incident, the ventilation system, which could have removed the leaking argon before it became a problem, and the oxygen alarm system, which would have warned of the oxygen-depleted atmosphere, were not switched on. Had these systems been working these two deaths may not have occurred.

"Confined spaces can be found in a wide range of workplaces and these deaths should serve as a reminder to all industries of the dangers of this type of work, concluded Messenger. "Entry to confined spaces should be avoided if possible, but where entry has to be made the work should be done by properly trained and authorised persons in accordance with a safe system of work. Simple checks then need to be made to ensure that employees are, in fact, following the system."