Have a question? Call us on 0800 1979 345
This article was published on July 27th, 2016
A manufacturing company has been investigated by the Health and Safety Executive after a routine health and safety inspection found that staff were at risk of exposure to a toxic substance and despite being warned to take action and rectify the health risk, they did not do so for 22 months.
The toxic substance in question is called styrene and the company uses it in the production process of their products. An inspection of the premises in 2013 identified that there was no adequate processes or procedures in place to control the exposure to the employees such as an extraction system to remove the toxic substance from the air and filtered masks to prevent inhalation.
Side effects of breathing in styrene include irritation to the nose, throat and lungs, neurological effect which can include poor concentration, drowsiness, headaches and nausea.
The HSE found that the company failed to make the necessary improvements to the premises after an improvement notice was served in May 2013 and only added the necessary safety processes once they moved into new premises in March 2015 leaving employees exposed to toxins for 22 months.
The manufacturing company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) and was fined £8,500 and ordered to pay costs of £4,500.
An HSE Inspector said: “ Workers’ health was put at risk from exposure to styrene for a period of 22 months, even after the company had been made aware of the actions it needed to take.
“Whilst HSE is sympathetic to the pressures faced by small businesses, this is simply not acceptable. Employers need to take action to ensure they are providing adequate control to protect the health of their employees.”
Employers have a duty to comply with Health and Safety laws and regulations and provide their employees with a safe, accident free environment and if they don’t fulfill this then they are breaking the law, as well as putting you at risk. If you have an accident at work as a result then you have a right to file an injury at work claim against them.
We offer a free initial interview in order to review your specific circumstances and assess the viability of your personal injury claim.
To speak to one of our specialist team call us now on FREEPHONE 0800 1979 345, or complete our simple enquiry form and we can call you back at a time to suit you.
This website privacy notice sets out how Thorneycroft Solicitors uses and protects any information that you give Thorneycroft Solicitors when you use this website.
Thorneycroft Solicitors is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
Thorneycroft Solicitors may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 01/05/2018.
What we collect
We may collect the following information:
We will collect the information directly from you via completion of our enquiry form on the website.
What we do with the information we gather
We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:
We will also collect and process your personal data if you have consented to receiving marketing in respect of our services. You are able to unsubscribe or withdraw your consent at any time by emailing [email protected] or writing to ‘Marketing’ at Thorneycroft Solicitors, 9a Bridge Street Mills, Bridge Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 6QA.
Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Retention
If you do not instruct us in relation to your legal matter, your personal details will be retained for a period of 12 months.
If we are instructed in relation to your legal matter, we will keep it in line with our data retention periods. Details of our retention period for your legal matter can be found within our Client Care Letter and/or Terms of Business, under the heading file retention.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Your Rights
Google AdWords
This website uses the Google AdWords remarketing service to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who haven’t completed a task on our site, for example using the contact form to make an enquiry. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the website. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.
You can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Preferences page, and if you want to you can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely by cookie settings or permanently using a browser plugin.
×