Employers warned about occupational asthma risks after £26,000 fine

Employers are being warned about the importance of protecting workers from occupational asthma. The warning comes after a firm paid out over £26,000 due to a member of staff developing asthma within weeks of being exposed to soldering fumes at work.

Turbo Power Systems Ltd was last month fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs after it pleaded guilty to three breaches of health and safety legislation at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court. This week the firm also admitted liability and agreed to pay the employee £20,000 compensation plus legal costs.

The employee started working for the company, which makes electric generators and motors for the aerospace industry, in June 2007, where she spent up to six hours a day soldering. She worked with rosin-based soldering wire, which is known to cause occupational asthma, but was never given any training or warning about the dangers.

She was soldering in an enclosed space with inadequate extraction and within a few weeks began to suffer from difficulty breathing. She was diagnosed with occupational asthma which she has been told she will have to live with for the rest of her life.

She was later made redundant and has since been unable to find alternative employment.

HSE Inspector, Andrea Robbins, said:

"It is well established that exposure to rosin-based solder flux fumes can lead to the development of occupational asthma. It was therefore entirely foreseeable that failure by the company to implement appropriate assessment, control measures to reduce exposure to these fumes, and a failure to have health surveillance would put their employees at risk.

"The company has now introduced a range of improvements including the use on a non-rosin based solder flux where possible and provision of local extraction ventilation, and a programme of health surveillance."

Tony Hood from Thompsons Solicitors said:

“Employers should have rigorous measures in place to ensure workers are not exposed to the risk of developing occupational asthma or other work related diseases. Our client was put at risk unnecessarily and has suffered irreparable harm due to the serious shortcomings in the employer’s procedures. This successful claim and the HSE prosecution should serve as a clear message to employers about the importance of complying with their legal duties in relation to workplace health and safety."