An energy company has been fined a record-breaking £500,000 after a woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Pensioner Joyce Moore, from Middleton, passed away in October 2012 after the flue of her gas boiler was blocked by HIS Energy Ltd, who were offering free cavity wall insulation.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation following her death to determine whether the company breached Health & Safety regulations and if they had properly followed industry standard.
The investigation found that, on the day of the incident three employees of HIS Energy Ltd had visited Mrs Moore’s property. They drilled holes in the walls and blew countless insulation beads into the cavity between the outer and inner walls. The technicians did a standard smoke test of the boiler at the end of the day however the test failed, indicating that the boiler’s flu was blocked.
Despite the high risk of carbon monoxide poisioning, the workers left Mrs Moore’s property without switching off the boiler, placing a label on it, or suitably warning Mrs Moore’s son (who she lived with) and his mother about the fatal risks presented by a faulty boiler. They didn’t organise for a gas engineer to visit the property and fix the problem.
On the day of the incident, Mr Moore observed that it was getting cold in the house and turned up the heating, unaware of the potentially fatal consequences. Later, he discovered his mother dead in her bed, just hours after the workers had left the property. A post mortem confirmed carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause of Mrs Moore’s death. Mr Moore and two paramedics were also admitted to hospital after tests established high levels of carbon monoxide in their blood.
Earlier this month (9th February) the hearing took place at Manchester Crown Court, with the jury reaching a unanimous verdict that company was guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £500,000 for the incident.
The court concluded that the company had failed to provide its employees with adequate training or take reasonable actions to prevent Mrs Moore’s death.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Lisa Bailey said, “The Company knew about the risks from its work but its safety standards fell well below the legal minimum. As a result, an elderly woman has lost her life.”