Two workers died of asphyxiation when they were conducting their everyday tasks in a Herefordshire company on 14 June, 2004 as a result of which the HSE is issuing warnings to all companies. The HSE has asked companies to consider the risks of working in confined spaces for the safety of the workers.

The deaths occurred in a manufacturing plant at College Road, Hereford, and the case was taken to Worcester Crown Court. On 24 April 2009, the court found Bodycote H.I.P. Ltd of Macclesfield, Cheshire guilty of violating section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £533,000 and was asked to pay £200,000 towards costs.

The bodies of the company’s Works Manager and Maintenance Engineer were found on the stairs leading to a pit inside the premises, and it was determined that argon gas had escaped from a large pressure vessel and had spread inside the concrete-lined pit. The oxygen alarm system and the ventilation system of the pit were switched off at the time.

The deaths of the two workers could have been prevented, believes HSE Inspector Luke Messenger. He elaborated that the company was very well aware of the risks related to asphyxiation and confined spaces as it had seen a very similar case of double death merely three years ago in a Bodycote Group site in California.

He also said that the company failed to put proper risk assessment strategies into place. Even though the company did install protective systems and work procedures, it did not make sure that the workers were properly acquainted with all these safety measures. The company also failed to make sure that the systems and procedures were being followed. Companies need to be sure that they are giving the correct instructions to employees with regard to health and safety issues. An accredited health and safety course by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is designed to help those with health and safety responsibilities to carry out their duties at work more effectively and to protect the organisations for which they work.

The ventilation system was in place to remove unwanted argon gas from the pit while the oxygen alarm system was there to warn of a possible oxygen depletion scenario. Both these systems could have prevented the deaths had they been turned on, stated Messenger.