|
22 February 2006 - Company Fined After
Toxic Radiation Leak
Navigation
A nuclear waste company, AEA Technology (AEAT), formerly part of
the UK Atomic Energy Authority, has been ordered to pay £400,000 in costs and
fines following a lethal beam of toxic radiation trail during transportation by
road over a 130 mile distance.
The Crown court at Leeds was told of a series of mistakes caused
by a carelessness culture and arrogance within the company and that there had
been criminal breaches of Health and Safety Legislation and Regulations.
Some of the many mistakes were as follows:
-
There were flawed management practices and a cavalier
indifference to safety shown by two employees.
-
The wrong packaging equipment was used, failing to prevent
lateral movement by the cobalt-60, which was inside a tubular flask.
-
A protective shield plug was missing, which would normally have
been under the tubular flask.
-
Essential safety checks were not carried out prior to the
radioactive cobalt-60 being taken on a 3½-hour lorry journey from West Yorkshire
to Cumbria.
-
Had the thin beam of escaping gamma rays not been directed in a
downward position, anyone within 300 yards of the low-level trailer would have
been at risk of contamination.
-
Radiation experts from the Health and Safety Executive said that
anyone exposed to the beam could have exceeded the legal dose within seconds and
suffered burns within minutes.
-
An estimation from a scientist pointed out that someone standing
a yard from the source and in the direct path of the rays would have been dead
in two hours.
-
Mark Ord, the manager responsible for the day-to-day running of
Safeguard, and Paul Gilbert, an employee who was in charge of the March 2002
operation, had each signed documents which wrongly stated that adequate safety
checks had been carried out.
James Taylor, a Principal Specialist Radiation Inspector with
HSE, said:
"This case should serve as a reminder that radiation
protection should never be taken for granted and that management must understand
the principles, not least of which is the need to supervise their staff
properly.
"I am pleased that the court clearly saw this as a serious
matter. While there is no evidence that anyone received a significant exposure
during the preparation and transport of this material, there was clearly the
potential for an extremely serious incident. Anyone exposed to the beam coming
from the container could have exceeded the legal dose limit within seconds and
suffered radiation burns within minutes.
"The case also highlights the need for proper preparation and monitoring of
transport packages. Adherance to approved operating procedures would have
detected the omission of the shield plug before the radioactive material was
loaded to the package.
"HSE is always willing to work with companies handling radioactive materials to
ensure that workers and the public are not exposed to excessive and therefore
unacceptable levels of radiation.
"In HSE's judgement, however, the management failures and the
level of risk in this case merited prosecution, in line with our published
enforcement policy."
The criminal breaches were as follows:
- Under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, AEA
failed to ensure, "so far as reasonably practicable", the health safety and
welfare at work of employees.
- Under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, AEA
failed to conduct its undertaking, namely the transport and management of
radioactive materials, in such a way as to ensure, "so far as was reasonably
practicable", that persons not in its employment who may be affected thereby
were not exposed to risks to their health or safety.
- Under Regulation 8(1) of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999, AEA
failed to take all necessary steps to restrict, "so far as reasonably
practicable", the extent to which employees and others were exposed to
ionising radiation.
- Under the Regulation 19(1) of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999,
AEA failed to ensure that ionising radiation levels were adequately monitored.
- Under Regulation 14(1) of the Radioactive Material (Road Transport) (Great
Britain) Regulations 1996, AEA caused a package containing a radioactive
source to be transported without determining the Transport Index of that
package.
- Under Regulation 31(2) of the Radioactive Material (Road Transport) (Great
Britain) Regulation 1996, AEA failed to ensure that requirements for package
inspection were satisfied before shipment.
It was accepted by the judge that AEAT had, with the exception
of the 2002 incident, an excellent safety record.
A plea of guilty to six criminal breaches of Health and Safety Regulations and
Legislations, with regards to the transportation of radioactive materials, was
made by AEAT.
Further information on Radiation can be accessed from the HSE
Webpage by clicking the following:
HSE Radiation homepage
Article by Alexandra Johnston
 Click Here to
Email This Article To a Friend
|
