A north London metal recycling company has been fined 49,500 after 90 of its workers were put at high risk of lead exposure.
Metal and Waste Recycling Limited pleaded guilty yesterday (April 23) to breaching the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002, after failing to take adequate steps to protect the employees from exposure between October 2008 and July 2009.
Westminster Magistrates Court also ordered the company to pay costs totalling 25,483.
The employees, largely Romanian agency workers, were stripping lead-sheathed copper cabling in three sheds at the companys Edmonton recycling facility, and were found to be at high risk of significant exposure to lead, with some showing signs of lead poisoning.
Investigators from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the site on April 22 2009 after receiving complaints from an employee the previous month and found that the company had inadequately ventilated the area where the cable stripping was taking place.
Ingestion
The investigation also uncovered that the workers were eating and changing out of their contaminated overalls in the same area and were smoking on site, which raised the risk of them ingesting significant levels of lead.
Metal and Waste Recycling had also failed to put into place sufficient health checks for the employees that are a legal requirement when working with lead.
When interviewing employees during the visit to the site, HSE investigators heard that some had not received any training about safely working with lead, while one had asked to see a training file but had been told by the company that it could not be found.
The court heard that a doctor appointed by the HSE carried out blood tests on the workers in July 2009 which showed that 23 had significantly high levels of lead in their blood, while 6 were referred to hospital after showing symptoms of lead poisoning and 2 required medical treatment.
In mitigation, the company said that it had taken steps to bring itself back in line with the regulations, including installing a new ventilation system in the work areas, adopting new procedures to prevent lead dust from being spread on clothing, and employing extra security and management staff to ensure that workers complied with the rules.
Standards
In sentencing, Magistrates said the company had fallen well below the standards that it was required to meet and although none of the employees affected are thought to be likely to suffer from any long term illness, they were said to have been placed at high risk of harm by the companys actions.
After the ruling, HSE inspector Chris Tilley said: “Lead exposure is a recognised cause of occupational ill health and its dangers are well known and documented. Working with lead requires adequate measures to either prevent or control exposure and appropriate monitoring of employees’ blood lead levels.
“In this case there was an abysmal lack of care from the company. It failed to implement adequate control measures, carry out any health surveillance of their workers and provide adequate welfare facilities.
“The company fell far short of its legal duties and exposed its employees to an unacceptable level of risk which resulted in six people suffering lead poisoning and a further two workers needing hospital treatment.”
Letsrecycle.com has requested a comment from Metal and Waste Recycling Limited.
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