Sanmar's costly poison
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Three offences against the new Hazchem regulations while carrying a 16-tonne container of sodium cyanide cost Samar Container Services of Normanton £3,100 in fines and costs last week when it appeared before Wetherby Magistrates.
The company admitted to three offences of failing to train the driver of the vehicle adequately, failing to ensure that Hazchem warning boards were displayed, and failing to take precautions against fire and explosion by not carrying a fire extinguisher contrary to the Road Traffic (Carriage of Dangerous Substances in Packages) Regulations 1986.
Philip Purkiss, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said that an unmarked Mercedes artic driven by a Brian Rose had been stopped by a routine police patrol which had been unaware of the nature of the load. Rose was untrained and though there had been a Hazchem warning board in the cab, it had not been displayed on the vehicle.
The court was told that the training of Hazchem drivers was essential so that they knew the properties of the chemicals that they were cartying and appropriate emergency procedures. Sanmar's sodium cyanide load was extremely toxic. A 0.2g was sufficient to kill a person and 16 tonnes would kill the entire population of Great Britain.
For Samar, Gary Hodgson said that the regulations had only come into force on 6 April, the day before the vehi de had been stopped. The company had consulted with the Road Haulage Association and the HSE about the regulations and about half of its drivers, including a driver named Rose, had been trained by the due date. Unfortunately, the company had three drivers named Rose and a traffic clerk had sent the wrong driver to collect the load, using his incab telephone, when a job had come up at the last minute.
The load had been collected from ICI at BiHingham, where Rose had been given Hazchem labels. Of his own volition, however, he had decided not to display them on the vehicle. As far as the fire extinguisher was concerned, the company had understood that it was not essential.