Cornwall company put workers at risk of radiation poisoning for a …

A company in Cornwall has been fined after putting employees at risk of toxic ionising radiation over a the course of a decade. Terril Bros. (Founders) Limited were found to have inadequate access controls and warning systems at its foundry on Guildford Road, Hayle[1], in 2009 by its own external Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA). In the following 10 years, the company received multiple RPA visits, reports and advice, but action was not taken by the company.

Its failure to address the faults continued until the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted an unannounced inspection of the foundry in February 2019. The investigation found employees at Terrill Bros. (Founders) Limited were put at risk of exposure to high dose rates of ionising radiation by the company’s reliance on administrative controls, rather than installing industry standard engineering controls. The HSE found the door to the company’s industrial radiography enclosure did not have adequate interlocks nor was there a suitable trapped key system to prevent access.

There were also no pre-exposure warning systems or automatic and failsafe warning lights in place. The HSE says ionising radiations “include X-rays, gamma rays and particulate radiation (alpha, beta and neutron radiation) produced from X-ray sets or radioactive substances. They are typically used in medical exposures, industrial radiography equipment and gauges used in industry for process control, but may also be produced from naturally occurring radioactive substances, including radon gas.”

Ionising radiations can cause dermatitis, burns, cell damage, cataracts and changes to blood. The HSE says: “Exposure to ionising and UV radiation can damage DNA and can cause health effects, such as cancer, later in life. The risks are small for low levels of exposure but exposure to high levels of ionising and non-ionising radiations can cause acute effects such as burns, tissue and organ damage.”

Get our top stories delivered to your inbox every day. Choose what you want here[3] Terrill Bros. (Founders) Limited of Guilford Road, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017, and Regulation 8(1) of the preceding Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999.

It was fined GBP33,750 and ordered to pay costs of GBP47,601 at Truro Crown Court[4] on 14 April 2023. Karen Fuller, HSE specialist inspector of radiation, said: “This situation could so easily have been avoided by acting on the advice received from their RPA and installing appropriate control measures. “All companies carrying out industrial radiography must ensure they have appropriate access controls and warning systems for their enclosures.

Only then can they be confident that any exposure to ionising radiation is kept as low as reasonably practicable and the risks of accidental exposure are minimised.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

References

1. ^ Hayle (www.cornwalllive.com)
2. ^ Two teens and man die in burning car after crash in Cornwall as teens arrested (www.cornwalllive.com)
3. ^ here (www.cornwalllive.com)
4. ^ Truro Crown Court (www.cornwalllive.com)