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Search forHospital fined for health and safety breach
Wednesday, August 20, 2008, 10:00
United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) was also ordered to pay £3,504 costs after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety rules at Boston Magistrates Court on Monday.
A visit by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors to the Pilgrim revealed an employee had been cleaning the film processor for several years without proper safety precautions, exposing her to gluteraldehyde, a chemical which can cause skin and respiratory problems.
HSE inspector Jo Anderson said: "The trust placed the health of one its workers at risk by failing to properly identify the risk of exposure and putting appropriate controls in place.
"In fact, the risk was only identified when HSE staff visited the hospital and banned the use of the film processor until steps were taken to reduce the exposure risks.
"All employers must have systems in place to ensure that work with hazardous substances is identified in order that the health of employees can be properly protected.
"This should include non-routine work, such as cleaning, maintenance and out-of-hours work.
"Employees should always be made fully aware of precautions to prevent this type of exposure which could have resulted in long-term health problems for the employee.
"Exposure to even very small amounts of gluteraldehyde can lead to allergic skin reactions, hay fever symptoms and asthma."
ULHT spokesman Shona Ottey told the Target that despite no injuries being caused and the situation being remedied, the trust pleaded guilty to the charges to avoid further expenses being incurred.
She said: "ULHT takes the health and safety of all staff very seriously and we regret the occurrences in 2006 that led to this prosecution."
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