A pharmaceutical giant has been fined €15,000 for breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act after an accident in which a carcinogenic substance was released into the atmosphere, writes Louise Geaney.
SmithKline Beecham (now Glaxosmith Kline) pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to four counts of breaching the Act during an incident at its plant at Currabinny, Carrigaline, Co Cork, on May 30th, 2002.
Insp Michael Boylan of the National Authority of Occupational Health and Safety told the court that the company had stopped using a certain material and were in the process of removing it from the plant on that date.
The court heard that the company opted for on-site incineration as the best method of disposal.
However, the company had failed to take an adequate risk-assessment of the technology employed to do so.
Consequently, a chemical reaction took place when the material came in contact with steam in the fire chamber, corroding the system and causing a release of 2.4 kg of toxic dimethyl sulphate into the atmosphere.
Insp Boylan told Judge Patrick Moran that an employee at the plant made a complaint to the authority and a subsequent investigation was launched.
He said that while the company had completed a risk-assessment, it had failed to consider the effect of the incineration on the equipment itself.
"The material wasn't suitable for use in that system," the health and safety officer said.
Describing the emission as a second-class very toxic substance, Insp Boylan told the court that it could have been fatal if it had been a greater release over a longer period of time.
The chief executive of SmithKline Beecham, Mr Finbar White, said he very much regretted the incident.
He said that as the company was known as a pharmaceutical company globally, it aimed to operate to the highest standards and he gave the court his assurance that it would not break its standards in the future.
Mr Patrick McCarthy SC, defending, told Judge Moran that the company had since achieved the industry best practice award for its health and safety procedures and that the incident was an isolated fall from its appropriate standards.
Judge Moran said he accepted that the incident was a once-off affair which happened while the company was removing a substance it did not wish to have on its premises.
"They take their responsibilities seriously and properly," Judge Moran said.
He imposed a fine of €15,000 on SmithKline Beecham, to be paid within four weeks.