Toxic fumes fine for recycling firm

Twenty employees at the Huddersfield plant of Electrical Waste Recycling Group had levels of mercury in their system above UK guidance levels and five showed extremely high levels following the exposure between October 2007 and August 2008.

The company recycles hazardous electrical equipment, including light tubes and TVs, which contain mercury and lead.

Exposure to mercury can damage the central nervous system and organs and cause personality changes.

Some workers were taken ill but it could not be proven in court there was a causal link between exposure and their symptoms.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that although the exposure went on for 10 months nothing was done even after urine tests revealed the problem.

The only health and safety document produced by the firm during the investigation referred only to bleach and diesel, "an extraordinary state of affairs," said Alex Offer, prosecuting.

The mercury leaks at the factory in School Lane, Kirkheaton, happened after an American firm supplied a recycling machine without vital filters but this should have been picked up and acted upon, the prosecution said.

Company director Craig Thompson was inexperienced in health and safety and claimed not to understand the significance of the mercury readings.

Thompson, 35, of Woodlea Avenue, Huddersfield, admitted failing to discharge his duties in relation to hazardous substances.

He was fined 5,000 but escaped being banned from acting as a company director.

Electrical Waste Recycling Group, of Glasgow, and formerly known as Matrix Direct Recycle, was fined 140,000 and told to pay 35,000 in costs after it admitted five separate health and safety breaches.

The court heard that several workers had reported ill health as a result of the exposure, including a pregnant woman who was concerned that her unborn baby was at risk.

The woman and the baby were said to be unaffected by the exposure and others who became ill have since recovered.

Robert Smith QC, for the company, said the firm had invested heavily in the plant, now employed 72 people and had been given a clean bill of health.

Paul Greaney, for Thompson, said his client found himself "out of his depth" as his expertise was actually in IT.

Judge James Stewart QC, the Recorder of Bradford, said it was a "matter of luck that no-one was seriously injured" by the mercury.

He said the company failed to carry out risk assessments and warnings were not heeded.

After the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Jeanne Morton said: "This is a shocking case involving a large number of employees, many of them young and vulnerable, who were suddenly faced with the worrying possibility of damage to their long-term health.

"The risks associated with handling toxic substances like mercury have been known for generations, so it is all the more unacceptable that something like this has happened."