The Towing Path

Electrical Waste Recycling Group Limited (EWR) which was previously known as Matrix Direct Recycle Limited and its director Craig Thompson were fined a hefty £145,000 in total for causing exposure of their workers to toxic mercury fumes due to poor ventilation at their work site.

While five workers had exceedingly high mercury levels in their blood, a total of twenty employees were victims of over exposure to toxic fumes between a prolonged period from October 2007 to August 2008. The EWR deals in recycling electronic items like fluorescent light tubes, and TVs and monitors containing mercury and lead elements respectively. At a plant situated on School Lane in Kirkheaton, Huddersfield, employees were being exposed to high levels of hazardous emissions from both substances. The court was informed that poor ventilation at the site had caused the dangerously high exposure.

Several workers including a pregnant woman, who was concerned about her unborn baby, had filed complaints reporting ill health due to the harmful fumes, and the HSE issued five Improvement Notices and a Prohibition Notice to the company in the wake of the incident.

Company director Craig Thompson was fined £5,000 after he pleaded guilty of violating Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Act passed in 2002. EWR was fined £140,000 and also asked to pay £35,127 towards costs by the Bradford Crown Court. The company was charged with and pleaded guilty to breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, three regulations of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health 2002 and one rule of Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002.

Workplace Law Training & Consulting is equipped to provide professionally accredited training in key areas of workplace law and practice, with well-established study programmes for IOSH and NEBOSH courses. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) training will enable those responsible to identify and assess hazardous substances in the workplace and enable companies to put together plans to prevent and control these substances so that businesses and their employees can work safely. See IOSH Working Safely, for a course covering the important health and safety issues in the workplace, which can be tailored to the needs of the individual organisation.