Fine for BR Greenwell Plumbing and Heating Services
15/11/11: A Cardiff gas company has been fined due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
An engineer who attended a gas leak in a block of offices was almost killed by carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty work being carried out on the boiler.
Cardiff Court was told that John Courtney who is from Penarth, was overcome by the deadly fumes whilst investigating a possible leak at Mount Stewart House in October 2010.
During the HSE prosecution, the court heard that the partners of BR Greenwell Plumbing and Heating Services had attended the premises on 21 October 2010 to effect repairs to an open flue boiler; they fitted a new control valve.
The next day, Mr Courtney attended following reports of a smell of gas, he went into the cellar to investigate and suffered from the effects of the carbon monoxide, resulting in him being taken to hospital.
When firemen measured the CO levels, they discovered that there was over 16 times the maximum safety level for a period of more than 8 hours.
The HSE investigation revealed that a valve was set incorrectly and resulted in the boiler producing high levels of the poisonous gas.
Although both defendants are on the Gas Safe Register, they did not have the correct certification to confirm their competency to work on the commercial gas fired hot water boiler.
After the hearing, a HSE inspector commented that despite Mr Courtney being an experienced engineer with a detailed knowledge of carbon monoxide risks was severely affected. If an unwitting office employee had gone into the cellar, they may have quickly been overcome by the potentially fatal fumes.
It is imperative that all gas engineers comply with legal standards, in the past 5 years there have been 3 fatalities as a result of gas installers working outside their competence.
BR Greenwell Plumbing and Heating Services were fined £5K and received a cost order for £8K after pleading guilty to breaching H&S legislation.
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