Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

North West Aerosols Ltd On Trial For Killing Worker

Pinkolady | 02.06.2008 20:19 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Liverpool

The Aintree-based company North West Aerosols Ltd was put on trial today at Liverpool Crown Court. The company is charged with two breaches of the Health and Safety At Work Act, after an accident at the factory on 13th December 2005, when one of their workers, Chris Knoop, was burned to death. His co-workers Kevin Armstrong, Gary Ryan and Graham Ryder, spent 10 days in hospital.

It is the company, not the individual directors, which is on trial. However, the directors wound up the company before the trial began. They did this voluntarily, the company is not bankrupt. The prosecution barrister complained about Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) handing out leaflets about the case outside the court building. The leaflet makes certain comments about why the directors might have wound up the company before the trial. He said he feared it would "influence the jury" as they are meant to judge the case on the facts, not on outside comment. He also asked the judge to direct "members of the public", who were sitting at the back of the court in the public gallery, not to hand out any more leaflets. These "members of the public" included the dead worker's sister, and one of his colleagues who had been burned in the factory fire. To his credit, the judge refused, saying the people concerned had a right to express an opinion. But he did ask the jurors whether any of them had seen the leaflet before he swore them in.
To my mind, this was just as useful - or just as pointless - as making sure none of the jurors had read the Liverpool Echo in case it has any report on the trial!
The company directors have consistently refused to attend any court hearings, and they did not send a representative. But even if they had attended, it would not have done them much good. The prosecutor's opening statement shows that the evidence against the company is damning.
He described how the four workers had gone into the factory at 5.30 in the morning to start up the production lines. The control panel did not work when they tried the start up procedures. The control panel was supposed to show red warning lights when there was a fault in the system, but it did not show any lights at all and so the men could not work out where a fault might be. Normally, when there was a gas leak, even a minor one, an alarm would sound in the factory. There was no alarm that morning. But a little after six, there was a loud bang as leaking liquid petroleum gas ignited. It turned into a fireball which projected across the factory, destroying everything in its path. Three of the workers rolled under the conveyor belts and then ran for what exits they could see, shedding their burning clothes as they ran. Chris Knoop ran into a workshop next to the production area, but died when the fire engulfed the factory.
When the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the fire, they found that all but one of the red lights on the control panel had its cover and its lightbulb missing. The gas leak alarm was supposed to automatically shut down the production lines and could not be reset until the leak had been stopped. On the day of the accident, the HSE found that the power supply to the alarm had failed and the stand by batteries were flat. They found other evidence of poor maintenance and concluded that the accident was "foreseeable and preventable".
The company is also charged with failing to provide adequate safety clothing and boots for its employees, and failing to provide adequate training and supervision for them to be able to work safely.
The jury is due to give its verdict tomorrow afternoon.

Pinkolady
- e-mail: pinkolady@riseup.net

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech