A farm owner has appeared in court after a worker died when he exposed to toxic gas.
The man, in his 20s, died after being exposed to Hydrogen Sulphide whilst attempting to repair an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a term used to describe the natural breakdown of organic matter into biogas, a methane and carbon dioxide mix. Organic matters include things like household and garden waste, commercial food waste and farm slurry.
On the day of the incident, the two men had been tasked with repairing a faulty stirring mechanism which required them to open the roof of a digester tank. The mechanism had broken after a crust formed in the tank, which is typically a sealed single or set of units where bacteria act with no oxygen to break down organic matter.
As the men opened the tank, they were hit by a mass amount of Hydrogen Sulphide and lost consciousness. The gas is highly flammable and extremely hazardous and inhalation of high concentrations of it can lead to an inability to breathe, if not death in just a matter of minutes.
The unnamed workers’ colleague regained consciousness but in doing so he found the man lying unresponsive next to him. Tragically, paramedics were unable to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive discovered a number of safety failings in the construction and use of the farm’s AD plant. The tank’s roof had been opened a total five times in just three months even though it had not been designed for routine removal and workers hadn’t been sufficiently trained to remove the roof, with very little understanding of the risks involved.
Astonishingly, Dorchester Crown Court heard that another employee had been rendered unconscious in a very similar incident the year before, however the incident had never been reported.
After pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Dorset farm’s owner was fined several thousand pounds and ordered to share costs of £75,000.