no embargo - 16 July 2009 ( Back to news releases)

FACK statement on the publication of the ICL report

A spokesperson on behalf of families who have faced the negligent killing of people they love by employers negligence said today: “The ICL/Stockline explosion was no ‘tragic accident’ but death by design.

“For all workers to be safe at work requires that the lessons of what went wrong, how it went wrong, how employers were able to create a culture that acted against H&S, how they disregarded workers concerns; how the HSE, as the enforcement agency, discharged its regulatory duties, how the HSE reacted to the whistle blower, and how the HSE’s interventions failed to prevent this appalling incident. The key issues are covered in the ICL Stockline Disaster Report  (1)

 In the case of the ICL/Stockline explosion that killed 9 workers and injured many more, devastating families for ever, the employer in question was under the scrutiny of the enforcement agency, the HSE, for about 20 years over the corroding gas pipe which was the final cause of the explosion.  We need Lord Gill’s report today to focus on the system which allows individual directors who made all the decisions that designed this terrible disaster to get away with it for so very long, kill so many, injure more, and walk away from court blame free, the company paying a paltry fine but no directors charged with manslaughter, or S37 offences.

“The role of  the Public Inquiry is to show how this explosion  could be allowed to happen under the scrutiny of the enforcement agency and mere platitudes such as  ’lessons have been learnt’ will be utterly insufficient to address the problem of  lawless behaviour of far too many employers and toothless enforcement. We want much more action to ensure all workers and others are safe, to prevent incidents before they kill, or injure or make ill, by keeping employers on their toes, not discussing a dangerous faulty pipe for 20 years! We need a propelry funded, proactive and tough health and safety enforcer.”

We have not sent the report yet but will be making a comment as soon as we have.

For more information contact Hilda Palmer 0161 636 7557

Notes

1. ICL Stockline Disaster Report by Stathclyde and Stirling Universities independent academics, and other news at: http://www.hazards.org/deadlybusiness/whydidtheydie.htm

2. Government  Press Release http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2009/july-2009/dwp007-09-010709.shtml