A security company has been fined for safety failings after a lone working security guard was killed by carbon monoxide fumes from a petrol generator. Arthur Ebirim, 45, from Peckham, south-east London, was overcome by the killer gas on 28 October 2011 as he kept a night-time watch over a disused nursing home in Taunton Vale, Gravesend, that was awaiting demolition.
His employer Anchor Services (GB) Limited was prosecuted on February 13 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified serious flaws with how the generator was used.
Dartford Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Ebirim and colleagues had been assigned to security at the nursing home since early August 2011. The guards were initially stationed outside the building before moving into a lobby area inside as the weather cooled. The petrol generator belonged to one of the workers and was also placed inside the lobby to provide a power source.
On the evening of October 27, Mr Ebirim was asked to guard the home alone because the usual night-time guard was unavailable. His wife raised the alarm that something was wrong when he failed to contact her at the end of his shift the next morning. Company representatives went to the site but were unable to gain access to the office. The door was eventually broken down by the emergency services and Mr Ebirim was discovered slumped in a chair. He was pronounced dead at the scene before a post mortem later confirmed carbon monoxide poisoning as cause of death.
The HSE established that the only source of carbon monoxide in the room was the petrol generator. Tests revealed it was capable of producing fatal levels. The generator was placed next to a door leading to a courtyard, and a sign on the door stated: ‘When running the generator please keep this door open’.
Generators of this kind are designed for outdoor use and should never be used indoors, magistrates heard.
HSE inspectors also found that it was prone to running out of fuel in the early hours of the morning, according to a log book at the site. Refilling in the dark posed an extra safety risk because there was a greater chance of spilling petrol and causing a fire.
The court was told that Anchor Services (GB) Limited failed to assess the risks posed by the generator and also failed to implement its agreed lone working procedures on the night of Mr Ebirim’s death.
The company, formerly of Tanfield Road, Croydon, but now in the hands of Sutton-based liquidators Turpin Baker Armstrong, was found guilty in its absence of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £20,000, the maximum penalty available to magistrates, and was ordered to pay also £35,656 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said: “This was a tragic and completely avoidable death that has devastated Mr Ebirim’s wife, family and friends. Their loss is made worse by the fact he was only covering the night shift as a one off, but sadly never returned home.
“The bottom line here is that the generator should not have been used inside the building, even with the door open. Petrol generators must only be used in a well-ventilated area because they are known to emit carbon monoxide. The onus was on Anchor Services (GB) Limited to keep Mr EIbirim safe, but they failed to do so.”
In a separate case, the UK division of global documents security company Iron Mountain was been fined after an employee fractured his arm in a fall from a dangerous step ladder.
A 48-year-old, from Barking, who asked not to be named, damaged the radius bone in his left elbow in the incident at the company’s site at Cody Road in Newham on June 12, 2012.
Iron Mountain (UK) Ltd was prosecuted on February 5 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified that the ladder he was using wasn’t fit for purpose. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard the step ladder collapsed as the worker tried to reach the upper level of a racking system, sending him crashing at least a metre to the floor below. He was unable to return to work for several weeks.
HSE established that the ladder was in a poor condition and was critically weakened by a crack that eventually caused it to fail. The court was told it was one of two step ladders available to staff that had cracks.
Iron Mountain (UK) Ltd, of Tooley Street, London, SE1, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £8,940 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Monica Babb said: “Ladders are often seen as an everyday item that can be taken for granted. They are not routinely checked, which is vital when it comes to identifying potential defects.
“Yet when they fail the consequences can be very serious. On this occasion a worker sustained a painful elbow injury, but it could have been much worse had he fallen from a greater height or landed in a different position.
“Iron Mountain (UK) Ltd should have implemented a more robust system for inspecting step ladders and providing replacements when defects were identified. Checking ladders is an essential aspect of safely managing work at height, and I hope today’s prosecution sends a clear message to others.”
Details on working safely at height can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/falls
