Nerve 18 - Chronicle of Deaths Foretold

Chronicle of Deaths Foretold

Many readers of NERVE will be familiar with Sonae's chipboard plant in Kirkby. The story of the plant - one of worker injury, local residents’ health complaints, airborne pollution, and a drain on the resources of the local authority and the fire service - took the most tragic of turns in December 2010, when two men lost their lives after being dragged by a conveyor belt into a silo machine. Both men were sub-contracted staff undertaking maintenance work.(1) At the time of writing, the police and Health and Safety Executive have yet to meet with the Crown Prosecution Service following their initial investigation into the deaths of Thomas Elmer, 27, and James Bibby, 25, both from Rossendale.(2) The men's local MP, Jake Berry, said at the time of the incident:

"Should the owners of the factory again be found to have fallen short of safety standards, following a thorough and detailed investigation by the Health and Safety Executive, then I hope steps will be taken to prosecute them for corporate manslaughter. If something has gone wrong then the owners should be brought to justice".(3)

Indeed. But if the plant has a long history of scrapes with the law, justice has not exactly been the outcome. This history of the Sonae plant at Kirkby is the chilling context to this latest tragedy. This is a company that seven years ago we, along with local campaigners, publicly named as an habitual criminal(4) responsible for serial crimes against the environment and against the safety of its workers, calling for its closure. Sonae responded with a libel letter.(5)
Since its opening by the Duke of Edinburgh in 2000, supported by almost £2million of taxpayers’ money, the Sonae plant has led a charmed life. Within a year of its opening, local residents were calling for the plant to be shut down. They reported symptoms known to be associated with exposure to formaldehyde - used in chipboard manufacturing. These included irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, skin problems, and breathing difficulties. Those living near the plant regularly found their cars and gardens coated in the dust.(6)

In 2003, the company was fined for three pollution offences. Then, in 2004, Sonae pleaded guilty to a further three charges brought by Knowsley Council. By February 2007, the council had served 17 enforcement notices on Sonae under environmental legislation. The plant also has a long record of health and safety violations. The Health and Safety Executive has prosecuted the company four times in relation to serious injuries to workers at the plant and has issued 12 enforcement notices to stop or improve work that was in breach of the law. One report has claimed that, according to HSE data, there have been 22 reports of "major accidents" at the plant in the last decade, and "that since 2001, 45 Sonae staff were forced to take at least three days off work after suffering injury".(7)

In the last four years Sonae claimed to have cleaned up its act - there had been no prosecutions of the company since 2007. But fires, local evacuations and plant shutdowns have continued. And then two workers die - which even seemed to attract the attention of a local media hitherto somewhat uninterested in the plant's track record, both the Echo and the Post "revealed" the "'Shocking' safety record at Kirkby's Sonae factory".(8)

Just over a month after Thomas Elmer and James Bibby were killed, the plant hit the headlines again. This time it was reported that a man fell from a pipe he was cleaning, ending up suspended forty feet above the ground by a harness he was wearing. Unsurprisingly, one worker was said to have commented that "Everyone was shocked and in disbelief". Somewhat differently, a Sonae Director, presumably Head of the "You Couldn't Make It Up" Department, asserted that the incident showed that safety systems were effective - the man's life had been saved by his harness.(9)

As we all know, as working men and women pay for the devastation wrought by the financial services industry, jobs become even more precious - especially on Merseyside, which will be hit harder than most places as central and local government attempt to roll out cuts. But there comes a point when some work is simply too dangerous to be protected. There is simply no evidence that Sonae can run the plant at Kirkby safely - quite the opposite. That is why we repeat a call we - and others - have made in the past: for the plant to be shut down.(10)

References

BBC News, 7th December 2010, Two workers killed at Merseyside chipboard factory
CPS ponders corporate manslaughter charge over deaths at Sonae factory, Liverpool Echo, 28th February 2011
(Manchester Evening News, 17th December 2010, MP calls for manslaughter probe at tragedy factory
NERVE 3
NERVE 10
Sonae’s Legacy of Pollution and ill Health
Manchester Evening News, 17th December 2010, MP calls for manslaughter probe at tragedy factory
Liverpool Daily Post, 16th December 2010 and Liverpool Echo, 16th December 2011
Liverpool Echo, 28th January 2011, New safety scare at Kirkby’s Sonae factory
Liverpool Echo, 9th December 2010, Sonae factory closure calls by Liverpool university professors

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Comments:

Comment left by julie foster on 10th June, 2011 at 23:58
l for one would like to see this factory pulled down,its caused nothink but misery since it was built l have breathing problems and cant leave my windows open because of the smell and my windows show alot of dust on them even though l cleaned them the day before and my husbands car is always dirty.

Comment left by Dave Kelly on 12th June, 2011 at 19:32
Sonae was very much heralded by Knowsley Council for bringing jobs and investment to the Town. They got it wrong then and are still getting it wrong now. Kirkby is quickly becoming the chosen place for the domestic/commercial waste for the whole of Merseyside. When will the elected members wake up and protect the people they are elected to serve

Comment left by vinny on 14th June, 2011 at 12:30
why did knowsley council allow this thing to be built here when most countries knocked it back ....i think that the council are guilty of looking at things with £ signs in their eyes

Comment left by collette rimmer on 14th June, 2011 at 16:42
Why have this factory next to a football academy also a fitness club its unreal. It should stay shut for good its a health hazard

Comment left by joe williams on 4th August, 2011 at 21:32
I have been complaining to Knowsley Council since the plant opened. I have had council officers at my home about 11 times ,Each time they have taken samples of dust from my car and windows .They did nothing to stop the dust or stench, before the (SMOKE STACK ) was made higher the smoke and fumes came into our homes for 7 years and yet we where told there was no danger from this. So why did they increase the the shack sp high .I have had throat congestion since it opened ,I never had it before but since the fire i have seen a great improvement.I have had people who work in the sonea say " we work there and we don't have any problems " .They work in a factory filled with extracters.I beleive it is my HUMAN RIGHT to live in a clean safe area and not be contaminated by sonea u.k. The people of KIRKBY where here first and we should be heard. SHUT IT DOWN ,KNOCK IT DOWN

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