Contractor fined for chemical safety breaches

UK: Essex-based contractor CLB Refrigeration has been fined £22,500 for neglecting chemical safety after a fire at its Rainham site.

The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Southwark Crown Court after its investigation.

The court heard that a 25-litre drum of paint thinners was involved in an incident in October 2012 where a fireball erupted in a brazier at the company’s site in Ferry Lane.

According to local paper the Romford Recorder, 30-year-old Jonathan Edwards and James Bellingham, 23, both suffered severe burns when they were engulfed in the fireball.

The company admitted two counts of breaching health and safety regulations following the incident, after which Mr Edwards spent five months in hospital recovering from 60 degree burns to his face and torso.

HSE told the court that CLB Refrigeration Ltd failed in its duties to assess and control the use of paint thinners – the company was not aware how workers were using the dangerous substance and were also unaware that a brazier was being used to burn rubbish.

The investigation identified that thinners was being used to clean marks off refrigeration containers that were being refurbished and that when the skips were full the employees would sometimes burn material they had removed from the refrigeration containers in the brazier.

HSE found that the company had not properly assessed the risks involved in using and storing paint thinners, and had fallen far below the standard of controlling the risks. CLB Refrigeration failed to ensure it had full knowledge of all the chemicals on site, how they were being used and failed to undertake an assessment of the risks involved.

CLB Refrigeration of Parkside, Woodside, Grays, Essex, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and was fined a total of £22,500 and ordered to pay £9,243 in costs.