Fixed Gas Detectors can make all the difference in critical situations.

Brewery fined £3 Million

On November 9, 2016, while a compressor was being removed at a Carlsberg brewery in Northampton there was a large, uncontrolled release of ammonia which tragically led to the death of one man and left another seriously injured, with a further 20 needing hospital treatment.

On 28 June 2022, Carlsberg was fined £3 million for this incident.

HSE principal inspector Samantha Wells said "Both the client, Carlsberg, and the Principal Contractor should have worked together to ensure that the risk was adequately managed. Not only Carlsberg had a duty here. There was also a very clear duty on the Principal Contractor.

"This underlines the dangers of not following industry guidance when working with toxic and flammable substances – HSE will take action against all who fail to ensure the safety of employees and others who may be exposed to danger.

"Projects involving multiple contractors require effective management arrangements, so it’s clear who is responsible for every part of the work and that safety checks are carried out before allowing work to start.”

Food Manufacturer Fined

A food manufacturing company was fined after employees were exposed to sulphur dioxide (SO2) gas which was released during the commissioning and operation of a new potato processing line.

After the hearing HSE inspector Martin Giles said: “This was a tragic and wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure of the company to plan properly for the introduction of new plant and equipment. It made alterations to the new plant without adequate thought and planning, failed to implement safe systems of work and failed to react adequately when things started to go wrong”.

Oil & Gas Company fined £3 Million

ConocoPhillips (UK) Limited, one of the world’s largest oil and gas exploration and production companies was fined £3 million after two uncontrolled, and one controlled (but unexpected) gas releases on the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS). These events took place over just two days, putting up to 66 workers at risk.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the releases resulted from maintenance work to replace a gas pressure control valve.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector John Hawkins said: “Our investigations indicate there was a deviation from following procedures fully. The underlying cause of the incident was the inadequate implementation, control and oversight of the permit to work system, and the common isolation procedure.”

“It is only a matter of good fortune these incidents didn’t result in a serious, tragic incident.”

What can we learn?

As you’ve probably noticed, there is a common thread to these incidents, and that is the lack of proper preparation and care being taken. Most businesses have people who have been doing the same job for so long that they work almost on autopilot. Unfortunately, sometimes appropriate safety measures aren’t put in place as procedures change.

It should never take a tragic incident, or near miss, to ensure we have the correct safety measures and procedures in place, but sadly these examples show that it does happen sometimes. The fact is that in the vast majority of cases, these tragedies are preventable. A fixed gas detection system provides early warnings to gas leaks, and can make all the difference in a critical situation.

At Point Safety, our Gas Detection specialists are here to assist you in creating a safe workplace, and help you build on your safety procedures.

They will carry out a site visit and survey to ascertain all the target gases, alarm set point parameters, device locations and audio-visual positioning are adequately accounted for. If your project is at prebuild stage we can carry this out using drawings and plans to prepare a proposal.

We offer an initial free survey depending on requirements which will more than satisfy most projects although if there is further requirement for more in-depth consultation and planning, we can offer this as a dedicated discovery project.

Speak to our team to arrange your survey.