Carlsberg factory death: Brewery where Bridgnorth man died hit with improvement notice
A brewery says the safety of its employees is of the “utmost importance” as it continues to work with agencies on an investigation into the death of a man from Bridgnorth.
The Carlsberg Brewery was handed an improvement notice after David Chandler died following an ammonia leak at the factory in Northampton last year.
The Health and Safety Executive issued the brewery with the notice which relates to the company having “not made a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks of health and safety of persons from the use of dangerous refrigerant gases namely Anhydrous Ammonia”.
The notice relates to breaches under the Health and Safety at Work Act, dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres regulations and management of health and safety at work regulations.
Today, Carlsberg said it was continuing to make safety improvement and was complying with the ongoing investigation by the HSE into Mr Chandler’s death.
A spokesman for Carlsberg, said: “Everyone at Carlsberg UK was deeply shocked and saddened by the fatal incident at our Northampton brewery last November and our thoughts continue to be with the family and all others affected by the incident. Ever since the incident, we have been co-operating fully with the Health and Safety Executive to establish the cause of the accident and we await the result of their investigation.
“The safety of our employees is of the utmost importance to us. As part of our ongoing commitment to health and safety we are constantly looking at ways to enhance the rigorous procedures we have in place to protect all our employees and other visitors to our sites.”
Emergency services were called to the brewery in Northampton town centre at 12.30pm on November 10 2016 following reports of an industrial accident.
A total of 22 people, 11 members of staff, two police officers and nine firefighters, were taken to hospital.
Mr Chandler, 45, of Hillside Avenue, was married and had two daughters.
A post-mortem examination was carried out at Leicester Royal Infirmary and the cause of death was given as inhalation of ammonia.
The family paid tribute to “a lovely, happy, family man” in a statement released by Northamptonshire Police following the accident.
The HSE said its investigation into the death is ongoing and it was unable to comment further at this time.
