Firm fined £100k after ‘catalogue of failures’ saw worker burned by steam hose

A chemical company has been fined £100,000 for a “catalogue of failures” that led to a worker suffering serious burns from a steam hose at a rendering plant in Motherwell.

The 23-year-old was left permanently scarred by the incident, which happened while he was working for Dundas Chemical Company (Mosspark) Limited at its Omoa Works site in Newarthill.

The site is a rendering plant where animal and food industry waste is processed into proteins, fats and oils used in the oleochemical, fuel and feed industries.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the worker had been instructed to clean a water tank used in the rendering process, along with a “vickery” and the walls and floors in the area.

The company provided power washers and a steam hose, which the man and a colleague took turns to use before the colleague moved on to other duties.

Continuing on alone, the 23-year-old went up on a cherry picker with the steam hose attached to its basket.

However, once he was at the required height the steam hose and nozzle “spun round”, pumping steam into the basket directly at him.

He quickly turned his back while “manipulating” the nozzle away from him and lowering the basket, and ran through to a “deluge shower” as soon as he was at ground level to cool his burn injuries.

He was taken to hospital with steam burns to several parts of his body, which have left him permanently scarred.

The company was fined £100,000 at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Monday, having pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety legislation.

An HSE investigation found a “catalogue of failures” were to blame for the incident.

These included the steam hose nozzle being unsafe because it did not have a “trigger or other mechanism” for starting and stopping the flow of steam at the point of operation.

Supervisors at the site had also been aware of problems with the mixing valve and set-up for supplying hot water for cleaning, but took no action to investigate or resolve the issue.

The inspectors also found the maintenance and engineering team had “no sound engineering understanding” of the risks when setting up this kind of washdown system, and how to mitigate or control them.

HSE inspector Ashley Fallis said: “Had a safe system of work been in place then this incident would not have happened.

“The lack of appropriate risk assessment, method statements, training and supervision for both the maintenance team who installed the valve, and the operators tasked with using the system, led to a situation where those involved were unaware of risks or simple control measures.

“This catalogue of failures resulted in a young man sustaining very serious burns, to which he still bears the scars to this day.

“We will not hesitate to take action against companies that fail to protect their employees.”