Council fined for endangering public at community centre

14/12/2011

Newcastle-under-Lyme Council has been fined GBP 20,000 and ordered to pay GBP 25,550 in costs at Fenton Magistrates' Court after it endangered people's health when an accident at work resulted in a carbon monoxide leak at a community centre.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the local authority after members using the Westlands Community Centre called the fire brigade to deal with a gas leak from the boiler at the premises.

Fenton Magistrates' Court heard fire fighters found extremely high levels of carbon monoxide escaping from the flue in the loft and evacuated the building as sections of the flue had come apart and the potentially lethal gas had built up and started to flow through an open trapdoor into a storeroom off the main hall.

The investigation revealed that the contract for maintenance and annual safety checks of all gas appliances in the 38 council properties had lapsed 12 months previously.

It was also revealed that that the 30-year-old boiler at Westlands Community Centre had not been checked for nearly two years before the incident on 30 March 2009.

The council pleaded guilty today to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 5 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Lynne Boulton said: "Every year, about 20 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning, invariably due to gas appliances not being properly serviced and checked for safety."

She went on to explain that the incident could have been much more serious, particularly as elderly people and children use the centre regularly and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the dangerous gas.

Warwickshire County Council was recently prosecuted by the HSE following an incident in October 2009 in which a 64-year-old man suffered permanent and life-changing injuries.

Posted by Alison Spriggs
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