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Truck leaking radiation was 'highly dangerous'
Page 8
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An Oxfordshire firm has been left £400,000 out of pocket after a serious health and safety
breach. Bridget Carter reports.
A FIRM THAT allowed a beam of radiation to escape from a truck on a 130-mile journey across England has been ordered to pay ,E400,000 in fines and costs.
Oxfordshire-based AEA Technology was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Monday 20 February: it had previously admitted health and safety offences.
The case was brought jointly by the Health and Safety Executive (11SE) and the Department for Transport after it was revealed that highly dangerous levels of radiation escaped from a truck travelling from Yorkshire to the nuclear plant at Scllatield. Cumbria in March 2002.
AEA Technology was contracted to remove the material, which had previously been used in cancer treatment, from a Leeds hospital to the Cumbrian site.
A subsequent investigation found that before the material was placed on the truck a plug was left off a 25-tonne container of radioactive material.
It concluded that AEA Technology's failure to adequately supervise and support its staff was the cause of the incident.
HSE radiation inspector James Taylor reports that while there is no direct evidence that anyone was significantly exposed to the radiation, there was the potential for an extremely serious incident: "Anyone exposed to the beam coming from the container could have exceeded the legal dose limit within seconds and suffered radiation burns within minutes."
Taylor adds that this incident should serve as a timely reminder to companies handling hazardous waste about the need for proper preparation and monitoring pro cedures when transporting radioactive material.
AEA Technology had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges under health and safety and road transport laws for exposing employees and subcontractors to high risks from radiation.
The company says that it has learned lessons from the incident staff are being retrained or replaced and its procedures improved so this kind of problem does not happen again.