That chipboard manufacturer we were discussing recently has suffered yet another fatality. http://www.liverpoolecho...factory-100252-29192029/

Clairel I don't know if you were involved in the discussion recently following the large fire at the factory, the local MP George Howarth has stood up in Parliament and suggested the plant be shut down, I know what you say but there are continual safety issues there and surely there must be something that can be done? I just don't know what? Perhaps if there is a prosecution following either of the recent fatalities the Judge can remove the directors from their positions, but that just leaves the way for someone else to take over? Do HSE not have any powers to get involved in a situation like this and assist management to ensure accidents do not happen?

Chris, As Phil rightly points out MP's love to stand up and make grandiose statements but that doesn't mean they they are appropriate or possible. The HSE does not have the power to permanently stop a company trading, there is no law they could utilise to that effect. And is that really something you would want to see? Think about the implications. None of us really know all the facts of all these incidents and let us not forget that severity of outcome is not related to severity of breach (ie, an near miss could have resulted from a far greater breach of legislation than a fatality). However, as an aside, whilst the HSE cannot be expected to stand watch over such companies it would be nice to see them held a bit more accountable when they fail to pick up on (or act on) breaches of law, especially when they lead to accidents. I know inspectors can't be expected to pick up on everything, especially as they may not see everything going on, but I know they also hide behind that as well. For example when inspectors have seen guarding standards and accepted them even when they aren't correct, which is one of the problems with having generalist inspectors no longer trained in industry specifics.

If this fatality/accident is the tip of an iceberg how many more accidents lie beneath I wonder?

Perhaps I'm missing something, or is this not worthy of a Prohibition Notice? Or even the next Corporate Manslaughter prosecution? Of course, this is assuming that the ongoing operations are legally non-compliant in some manner....... Pete

The latest news reports states that it was external contractor involved in demolition at the factory. The incident may have nothing to do with the chipboard manufacturer at all.

I had a PM discussion with Chris regarding this place about 3 months ago, due to the fact i was aware this was close to his area, his fire background and the fact i delivered a training course at one of the groups premises in Ramsbottom. It was just before the fire and the lads on the training course knew the deceased from the previous 'accident', apparently caused by someone starting up a machine whilst two people were working on it. They told me there was allegedly a near miss AFTER the deaths in a similar situation and the person involved was lucky to get away with his life....but told not to bother reporting it as no one was hurt. I believe this will run and run until the company no longer trades as there seems to be an underlying refusal to adhere to Health & Safety from top to bottom imo.

Yep, unfortunately for the company concerned, anyone in Kirkby (i don't live here) will automatically blame them because of previous incidents espeically in relation to the two previous incidents, and the fact the local population believe the plant is casuing health problems locally (nothing to my knowledge proven). And from what i've been told (not saying anything more) it is in the part that was or is under the demolition teams control to remove all the damaged building in relation to the massive fire they had.

The local rags sister morning paper has said this morning in relation to the previous deaths that the HSE have not yet decided whether to prosecute and that four enforcement notices were issued. A bit less than its evening counterpart shouted about a few months ago but as expected with the Liverpool Echo.