£10,000 fine for lead exposure boss
09/08/2010
The director of a sheet metal company has been fined £10,000 for exposing his workers to high levels of lead at the firm's Norfolk manufacturing facility.
Carlton Edwards, director of Anglia Lead Ltd in Barker Street, Norwich, admitted putting the safety of his workers in jeopardy by failing to implement adequate health and safety measures, allowing them to potentially breathe in lead dust while working at the Norfolk site, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found.
Norwich Magistrates' Court heard how workers could have been exposed to high levels of the poisonous metal through dust particles, by absorbing it through their skin or by ingesting it orally, usually as they ate, drank or smoked during breaks or after work.
The HSE said high levels of lead in the body can lead to headaches, nausea, stomach pains, anaemia, loss of weight and, in severe circumstances of continued uncontrolled exposure, kidney damage, nerve and brain damage and infertility.
The company was also fined £10,000 for breaching breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £10,556.
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