£250,000 fine for toxic gas incident

A food waste disposal and recycling firm has been fined £250,000 after three employees were overcome by toxic gases at an animal waste facility in Stoke-on-Trent.

John Pointon and Sons is a £40m-turnover business which processes animal by-products at its rendering and recycling facility in Cheddleton.

It has been prosecuted twice before for two fatal incidents which involved confined space entry within a processing plant.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that in April 2014 an employee had accessed a compartment within an animal waste trailer to free animal waste and was overcome by the gases.

Subsequently, two further employees entered the waste compartment and were also overcome by the gases, which included hydrogen sulphide.

John Pointon and Sons pleaded guilty to three charges at Stafford Crown Court and was fined £250,000 with costs of £37,362.