Major explosion at plastics firm

[nodrog]

The media coverage is being discussed here http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10175

This HG thread has had alot of hits from here which led me to see why!

Thanks for that link, makes quite interesting reading!

[JayKay]

Thanks indeed, very much appreciated.

[lynnski]

So, finally, the owners of Stockline plastics are called to account. This was utter negligence, 9 people lost their lives and ICL did nothing but piss about and delay court hearings, niggling over tiny details till finally they could hold it off no longer.

[tobester]

£400,000 fine thats £44,445 per person, a joke, one of the victims relatives interviewed on the radio said she phoned her sister about it, and her sister said her house was worth more than that,

They shouldve been taken to the cleaners if whats been said about the h&s inspections are true

[JayKay]

i think the issue was whether or not the company should have been issued a fine that would have closed it down or not.

The judge seemed to think that kind of fine was not appropriate, as I think did the survivors and relatives of victims.

There may yet be changes in the law regarding corporate negligence and responsibility for the health and safety of staff and that would probably be a more appropriate legacy.

[Dexter St. Clair]

If anyone is working in a non unionised factory where a director's son does the health and Safety checks could I suggest you get your workmates to join a union, make you H&S rep and get you trained up. You'll probably be promoted within the year.

The civil cases deciding compensation will now commence and I presume will also take a couple of years before being decided.

[My Kitten]

i think the issue was whether or not the company should have been issued a fine that would have closed it down or not.

I get what you mean here but a company that cannot look after the lives of their staff should be closed down.

I had an interview for a job there years ago and i came out not wanting to work there due to the look of the place and ive worked in some H&S dodgy places.

[JayKay]

I'm certainly pleased you didn't go for the job there.

In my opinion they were a dodgy company for sure
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981006/ai_n14195634

I'd tend to agree with you on the corporate killing issue, although rather than the survivors losing their jobs as a result of the company going to the wall I'd rather see those responsible or guilty due to negligence doing some jail time.

If they were given a punitive fine they'd probably find it all too easy to declare the company bust and the workers to find themselves out of work. Those personally to blame would probably be unaffected and find themselves working in a phoenix company in jig time.

However, if bosses thought there was a real possibility of spending a few years in the Big Hoose they'd sharpen up their health and safety standards.

And as Dexter says, join a union. An injury to one is an injury to all.

[My Kitten]

In my opinion they were a dodgy company for sure
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981006/ai_n14195634

Aye was round about that time that I went and the place looked a state never mind their dodgy dealings.

Unions, you know it makes sense!

There needs to be more corporate responsibility, the directors are responsible enough to take the cash but not the resposbility

[JayKay]

Electric shock batons are so not Betty Page.

[Dexter St. Clair]

The 16 July 2009 publication of the Gill inquiry’s report prompted families of the victims to call on HSE to end “soft touch regulation.” They said HSE had allowed the factory owners to “flout” safety rules for years.

Sixteen years before the deadly blast, in 1988, an HSE inspector had recommended the corroded pipes be dug up to establish the level of decay. He noted that the LPG gas tank in the factory was “the worst I’ve ever seen”.

Nothing was done.

Geoffrey Podger who took up his post as HSE chief executive the year after the disaster, said: “Of course, we in HSE acknowledge any past shortcoming, which are still a matter of great regret to us.” He apologised to the victims and their families for HSE’s part in the “terrible tragedy”, but then tried to claim some credit because an inspector had ordered the pipes to be replaced in 1988. While the inspector did his job, HSE’s systems failed completely.

The HSE chief executive suggested things are better today, commenting: “HSE has already done a great deal since the accident at ICL Plastics.”

In fact, frontline HSE inspector numbers, inspections, enforcement action and convictions all plummeted in the years following the disaster (Hazards 104). Lord Gill’s report rightly recommends the urgent replacement of all metal pipes carrying LPG. But the Stockline deaths also exposed a soft touch safety agency with blood on its hands. HSE requires an urgent upgrade as well.

Find out more from Hazards

[Icecube]

Like everyone else I was shocked at the Stockline explosion as I used to work for many years a couple of doors away in Grovepark Street.
MK wrote above the place was a bit of a slum, the yard, the entrance and the building, it certainly was. Experinced eyes would have marked it down as a make profit to the detriment of everything else kinda place - especially employee safety which is seen as drain on profits. I had experience of saftey and the HSE over the years in various Glasgow factories and I always got the impression of a cosy relationship between them and employers, that and the fact they always gave notice of an impending visit raised eyebrows (suddenly all the locked away ear plugs and safety glasses were available) - but maybe I'm biased due to having only nine and a half fingers.

[aland]

every time i see stuff about this i get cold sweats, i was offered a job there about 6 weeks before the disaster and one of the girls that got killed had only started working a few weeks previously. by rights it should have been me that was in there but ironically the reason i knocked them back was i didnt like the look of the place, the steps were all very worn and the place suffered from a lack of care

rip those that died

[My Kitten]

every time i see stuff about this i get cold sweats, i was offered a job there about 6 weeks before the disaster and one of the girls that got killed had only started working a few weeks previously. by rights it should have been me that was in there but ironically the reason i knocked them back was i didnt like the look of the place, the steps were all very worn and the place suffered from a lack of care

rip those that died

indeed, i feel like that too with my near miss working there. Poor souls.