Three former employees of the failed autoclave specialist Sterecycle are due to stand trial alongside the company in October over charges relating to the death of a worker at the firms Rotherham plant in 2011.
Sterecycles former maintenance manager Kevin Goss, operations manager Steven Weaver and operations director Paul Greenwell were present at a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday (May 19) having been charged under section seven of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Mr Goss also faces an additional charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The case has been adjourned until October 2014, when the three will stand trial alongside the firm which has been charged with corporate manslaughter.
Sterecycle worker Michael Whinfrey, 42, from the Wickersley area of Rotherham died as a result of injuries suffered in an industrial explosion at Sterecycles 100,000 tonnes-a-year capacity waste processing plant in January 2011. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a sudden loss of pressure in vessels used in the treatment process.
Autoclave
Another operator was seriously injured as a result of the explosion at the plant in Templeborough. The autoclave was one of two large vessels at the site that used steam and pressure to break down the organic content of household waste derived from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils.
The company ceased operations at the facility in October 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story) and entered liquidation in June 2013.
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Charges were brought by the Crown Prosecution Service in October 2013, following a lengthy investigation into the incident by the Health and Safety Executive and South Yorkshire Police (see letsrecycle.com story).
The CPS has offered no further comment on the case at this stage.
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