A stained glass company based in Lincolnshire has been fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of the same amount after one of its employees was found to have suffered from severe lead poisoning.
David Doherty, now 26, has been undergoing hospital treatment for over a year after it was discovered that he had seven times the normal amount of lead in his blood. The lead poisoning occurred after five years of restoring windows for Lincolnshire Stained Glass, using techniques such as soldering, wire brushing and wire wooling.
Lincoln Magistrates’ Court was told that Mr Doherty had been ill for a number of years before his diagnosis in October 2011. He had complained of nausea, feeling unwell and tired, and had suffered with frequent infections. He lost his appetite, was unable to sleep and felt depressed. It was only on a visit to his local surgery after contracting another infection that the practice nurse asked where he worked and realised his illness could be lead poisoning.
A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that David Sear, sole owner of Lincolnshire Stained Glass, failed to provide controls to protect his six workers from lead, despite being advised of the requirement to do so in 2005 when blood tests carried out on the advice of the HSE showed workers were at significant risk of lead poisoning.
The HSE's investigation also found there were no suitable dust extraction systems in place and that workers were not using masks when soldering, putting them at risk from lead fumes. In addition, the instruction and training workers received was not adequate and they had not been told about the risks and symptoms of lead poisoning.
The court heard that workers should have worn full overalls and been provided with clean and dirty changing areas, with overalls bagged and laundered on-site. Overalls and other protective equipment should have been removed before eating, drinking or going home. Instead, some workers were only provided with aprons or disposable overalls, and some regularly went home wearing work clothes contaminated with lead, putting their families at risk of exposure.
David Sear pleaded guilty to breaching the Control of Lead at Work Regulations SI 2002/2676 between 16 January 2010 and 13 October 2011 for failing to control the risk of lead exposure.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Lorraine Nicholls said, "Mr Sear is the owner of a specialist business that has been operating for some 30 years. He had no excuse for turning a blind eye to the known risks of this profession and neglecting the required safety standards to protect his workforce.
"Employees’ exposure to lead would have been greatly reduced with proper controls such as adequate extraction systems, suitable hygiene arrangements, personal protective equipment, air monitoring and medical surveillance – all measures Mr Sear knew he should have had in place.
"The instruction and training that Mr Doherty received also left a lot to be desired. Had he and his colleagues been aware of the risks of working with lead. Mr Doherty’s condition could have been diagnosed a lot sooner and not been left to worsen. It was disappointing that Mr Sear did not even recognise the symptoms."
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