18/7/2008Factory blast was caused by an ‘avoidable omission’
THE chairman of the company whose factory exploded killing nine workers has blamed two other parties for causing the tragedy.
Campbell Downie, chairman and the majority shareholder of ICL Plastics Ltd, told an inquiry he accepted no blame for the events that led to the blast at his plant in Maryhill in Glasgow on May 11, 2004.
But, he said, it was an “absolutely avoidable omission” which caused the disaster.
According to the 73-year-old, the omission was on the part of the health and safety authorities and ICL Tech, the ICL subsiduary which ran the factory.
Lord Gill, chairman of a public inquiry into the disaster, asked Mr Downie: “Is your position this – that you personally were not involved in any of the material decisions that had a bearing on this tragedy?”
Mr Downie replied: “That is true.”
Asked if he felt it was a disaster for which no individual responsibility could be attributed, he said: “You can do a risk assessment and not see a catastrophe standing behind it.
“In other words, you can do something and not see the risk.”
Pressed by Lord Gill on his answer, he said: “From what I’ve learned, from reading Calor’s and the health and safety’s, and knowing the ICL testimonies, that the risk now appears to have been absolutely an avoidable omission.
“That omission led to the tragedy.”
The chairman referred to “two parties” in relation to the omission and was asked by Lord Gill to reveal their identity.
Mr Downie said: “The health and safety authority – this is subjective entirely, and ICL Technical Plastics Ltd, based on the fact they plead guilty.”
The blast was caused by a leak when gas used to power an oven escaped from a corroded underground pipe and gathered in the basement.
Records showed the pipe went unchecked since being laid in 1969 and later buried with the raising of the factory yard.
It fed into an unventilated basement created when bosses decided to roof an open pit.
The chairman earlier told the inquiry that responsibility for all assets in the factory, including pipe work, had been transferred to subsidiary firm ICL Technical Plastics, later ICL Tech.
The transfer happened in the 1970s when holding group ICL Plastics Ltd changed structure.
ICL Plastics and ICL Tech were fined £400,000 after admitting health and safety breaches at the High Court in Glasgow last year.
The inquiry, before Lord Gill, continues today.
Campbell Downie, chairman and the majority shareholder of ICL Plastics Ltd, told an inquiry he accepted no blame for the events that led to the blast at his plant in Maryhill in Glasgow on May 11, 2004.
But, he said, it was an “absolutely avoidable omission” which caused the disaster.
According to the 73-year-old, the omission was on the part of the health and safety authorities and ICL Tech, the ICL subsiduary which ran the factory.
Lord Gill, chairman of a public inquiry into the disaster, asked Mr Downie: “Is your position this – that you personally were not involved in any of the material decisions that had a bearing on this tragedy?”
Mr Downie replied: “That is true.”
Asked if he felt it was a disaster for which no individual responsibility could be attributed, he said: “You can do a risk assessment and not see a catastrophe standing behind it.
“In other words, you can do something and not see the risk.”
Pressed by Lord Gill on his answer, he said: “From what I’ve learned, from reading Calor’s and the health and safety’s, and knowing the ICL testimonies, that the risk now appears to have been absolutely an avoidable omission.
“That omission led to the tragedy.”
The chairman referred to “two parties” in relation to the omission and was asked by Lord Gill to reveal their identity.
Mr Downie said: “The health and safety authority – this is subjective entirely, and ICL Technical Plastics Ltd, based on the fact they plead guilty.”
The blast was caused by a leak when gas used to power an oven escaped from a corroded underground pipe and gathered in the basement.
Records showed the pipe went unchecked since being laid in 1969 and later buried with the raising of the factory yard.
It fed into an unventilated basement created when bosses decided to roof an open pit.
The chairman earlier told the inquiry that responsibility for all assets in the factory, including pipe work, had been transferred to subsidiary firm ICL Technical Plastics, later ICL Tech.
The transfer happened in the 1970s when holding group ICL Plastics Ltd changed structure.
ICL Plastics and ICL Tech were fined £400,000 after admitting health and safety breaches at the High Court in Glasgow last year.
The inquiry, before Lord Gill, continues today.