A recycling company and a director have been fined a total of £145,000 after exposing workers to toxic mercury fumes at a site in West Yorkshire. Electrical Waste Recycling Group (EWR) recycles electrical equipment including fluorescent light tubes which contain mercury and TV sets and monitors containing lead but several workers reported ill health as a result of the exposure.
Twenty employees at the plant in Huddersfield were found to have levels of mercury in their system above UK guidance levels furthermore five of them showed extremely high levels as a result of exposure between October 2007 and August 2008.
Bradford Crown Court was informed that ventilation problems at the plant meant employees were being exposed to potentially harmful emissions from both substances.
The company was fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £35,127 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974; three separate breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and one breach of the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002.
EWR’s director, Craig Thompson, was also fined £5,000 after he pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.
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Source: thebusinessdesk.com
Tags: business utilities
