Company fined £80k for putting workers at risk of radiation poisoning

Workers at a cast metal company in Cornwall were put at risk of radiation poisoning for ten years, an inquiry has found.

Failings in access controls and warning systems at Terrill Bros. (Founders) Limited were flagged by external Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) when they were first identified in 2009. However, in the subsequent ten years, despite the company received further RPA visits, reports and advice, no remedial action was taken.

The company has been ordered to pay a total of £81,351 after a court case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The company’s failure to address the issues continued for almost a decade until the HSE carried out an unannounced inspection of the foundry in Hayle, Cornwall, in February 2019.

An investigation found the door to the company’s industrial radiography enclosure did not have adequate interlocks nor was there a suitable trapped key system to prevent access.

There were also no pre-exposure warning systems or automatic and failsafe warning lights in place.

The investigation found that employees at Terrill Bros. were put at risk of exposure to high dose rates of ionising radiation by the company’s reliance on administrative controls, rather than installing industry standard engineering controls.

Representatives for Terrill Bros. pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017, and Regulation 8(1) of the preceding Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. The company was fined £33,750 and ordered to pay costs of £47,601, at a hearing at Truro Crown Court on 14 April.

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Karen Fuller, HSE specialist inspector of radiation, said: “This situation could so easily have been avoided by acting on the advice received from their RPA and installing appropriate control measures.

“All companies carrying out industrial radiography must ensure they have appropriate access controls and warning systems for their enclosures. Only then can they be confident that any exposure to ionising radiation is kept as low as reasonably practicable and the risks of accidental exposure are minimised.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

Nobody from Terrill Bros. was available for comment at the time of publication.